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Lucylastic -> more help for the poor....and Military Families too...NOT (6/19/2013 8:41:23 AM)
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http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/18/drug-testing-for-food-stamps-and-10-other-gop-amendments-to-the-farm-bill/
The House of Representatives takes up debate on the Farm bill Tuesday, which in its current form cuts $20.5 billion from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps. Twenty-six Democrats took the “food stamp challenge“—feeding themselves for a week on the $31.50 provided by the food stamp program—to highlight and speak out against the proposed cuts.
Those cuts are already estimated to end benefits for about 2 million people who are already part of the program, but some of the amendments proposed by Republicans could make it harder for many more Americans to get access to the assistance they need.
Drug testing for food stamps
Many Republicans have pushed for a drug testing requirement for welfare recipients in recent years, and North Carolina Republican Richard Hudson is the lead co-sponsor on an amendment that would allow all states to create the same requirement for food stamp recipients as well. Fellow Republicans Doug LaMalfa of California and Ted Yoho of Florida also signed onto this amendment. In Florida, programs to drug test welfare recipients ultimately wasted $45-thousand in taxpayer money, because the cost of the testing surpassed the savings it created.
New work requirements for food stamps
Tim Huelskamp of Kansas is the lead sponsor of an amendment that would create additional work requirements for food stamp recipients. Although it creates a new hurdle for recipients, it would ultimately impact no more than about half of all people on the program now. As of 2010 28% of adult participants in the program were employed and another 24% were unemployed and looking for work. In fact, only 1 in 6 families on food stamps in 2010 was a nonworking family without kids or an elderly or disabled family member.
Let states do whatever they want with food stamp funding
Huelskamp also introduced an amendment that would turn food stamps into a block grant program, effectively giving all the money to the states with no strings attached, allowing state lawmakers to use the money however they see fit. Opponents say that turning food stamp into a block grant program could also make it harder for states to respond to increases in need.
End link between home heating and food stamps
Doug LaMalfa of California introduced an amendment to end the connection between home heating eligibility and food stamps. Under the current version of the program, those who are eligible for assistance heating their home also qualified for food stamp benefits. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has praised the connection, calling it a “streamlined approach” that “reduces unnecessary paperwork for eligible households and state SNAP agencies.”
Create a food stamp registry
In a party that opposes universal background checks for gun purchases on the grounds that it could lead to a national federal gun registry, at least one Republican believes cataloging and publicizing food purchases is a good idea. Pennsylvania Republican Tom Marino has proposed an amendment that “requires the USDA to publicly disclose the foods purchased with SNAP benefits and their costs in an online, searchable, comparable database.”
Photo ID for food stamps
Considering the widespread Republican support for voter ID requirements, it’s no surprise that an amendment by West Virginia David McKinley would force all states to require anyone using their food stamp benefits to present photo identification when they purchase food. States would get three years to “design and implement their own photo identification requirement programs.” His home state of West Virginia considered an identification requirement for voters in 2011.
End funding for nutritional education programs
Arkansas’s Tom Cotton has a bill to eliminate all funding for nutrition education programs. The program, which costs $375 million currently, helps families with limited resources learn “the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and changed behavior necessary for nutritionally sound diets.” One Democrat, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, also shares his desire, with an amendment that would cut nutrition education too.
Stop all convicted rapists and murderers from receiving food stamps
Missouri’s Ann Wagner is leading the way on an amendment to extend the lifetime ban on giving food stamp benefits “dangerous felons,” including convicted rapists, pedophiles, and murderers. Her bill also “disallows states from opting out or modifying this ban so that dangerous sex offenders and murders cannot receive taxpayer-funded food stamps.”
New York Republican Jack Reed has a similar amendment.
Along with this bill, this snippet from Huffn poo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/food-stamps-military_n_3462465.html
WASHINGTON -- While the House of Representatives considers cutting more than $20 billion from the food stamps program this week, it may want to consider a startling statistic: military families are on a pace this year to redeem more than $100 million in food aid on military bases.
Nearly $53 million in food stamps had been cashed in by people eligible to shop in base commissaries, including disabled veterans and others with military ID that entitles entrance to the facilities, through the first half of this fiscal year -- from October through March, according to data provided to The Huffington Post by the Defense Commissary Agency.
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