Donald Trump has a whole wall of pigeonholes where he plugs in people from across the nation. There are the immigrants from Central America, black people, Jewish people, and the list goes on. However, what he plans to do to poor people is truly horrendous.
Last month the White House issued a proposal to severely limit the number of people who would qualify for food stamps (SNAP – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
The food program was set up for temporary relief with the minimal number of calories sufficient to keep people alive. Most people did not realize that most people taking advantage of this program were divorced women with children.
Seventy mayors across America offered the president “strong opposition” to program changes that could easily cut off approximately three million people. It is doubtful that Trump has ever gone hungry.
The new ruling would halt people from getting food assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) automatically. Instead, they would have to go through an eligibility review to qualify for SNAP.
TANF is a separate federal program that helps people whose job losses have temporarily thrown them into poverty.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors wrote a letter to the U.S. Department, which manages the SNAP program:
‘As mayors, we serve as the CEOs of the nation’s cities; and remain most concerned about any proposal that will reduce improvements to the health of our residents, weaken nutrition programs, deteriorate advances to healthy food access, and spur declines in local and regional economies.’
The mayors continued, noting that the SNAP program prevents hunger among the “vulnerable populations:”
“[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)] remains one of our nations’ key resources in the fight against hunger and is particularly important to vulnerable populations in our cities.
The mayors’ letter stated that any change to the TANF program would hurt “children, senior, and people with disabilities:”
‘…escalate food insecurity and hunger for an estimated 3.1 million individuals – including children, seniors, and people with disabilities in our states, regions and cities nationwide.’
Their letter continued, noting that this was crucial in “the fight against hunger:”
‘SNAP remains one of our nations’ key resources in the fight against hunger and is particularly important to vulnerable populations in our cities.’
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue referred to a loophole where people on the lightest end of the TANF program can automatically enter the SNAP program.
Perdue naturally sided with Trump and defended the proposed plan. The point was to halt people who were supposedly taking advantage of the SNAP program. Statistics show that the number of people who do this merely creates a blip on the charts. Still, Trump’s people hold firm to their erroneous idea.
Perdue released a USDA statement:
‘For too long, this loophole has been used to effectively bypass important eligibility guidelines. Too often, states have misused this flexibility without restraint.’
The mayors’ letter follows in its entirety below:
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
