From Jared D. Verbatim Post.
One in seven Americans are on food stamps, but the government is pushing to
enroll more — in many instances working to overcome Americans’ “pride,”
self-reliance or failure to see a need.
“Our common goal is to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program,” the United States Department of Agriculture explains on its
“Outreach Toolkits”
page. “Our purpose is to ensure that those going through
difficult times can feed their families healthy, nutritious food. By working as
a team, we can accomplish these goals.”
The USDA has adopted a range of strategies and programs designed to bring
more people to SNAP, including taking on “pride.” A 2011 Hunger Champions Award
document reveals that local assistance offices have been
rewarded for “counteracting” pride and pushing more people to sign up for
benefits.
The Ashe County Department of Social Services in Jefferson, N.C., for
example, received a “Gold” award for confronting “mountain pride” and increasing
food stamp participation by 10 percent.
“Hearing from the outreach worker that benefits could be used to purchase
seeds and plants for their gardens turned out to be a very important strategy in
counteracting what they described as ‘mountain pride’ and appealed to those who
wished not to rely on others,” the document explains. “Eventually, many accepted
assistance from the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, the Qualified Medicare
Beneficiary program, and others, in some cases doubling a household’s net
income. In 1 year, SNAP participation increased over 10 percent.”
Overcoming “beliefs” is a stated method from the USDA to bring more people to
the program.
A “Common SNAP Myths”
sheet from the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) Community Outreach Partner Toolkit” details the importance of
reaching people who do not think they qualify or have beliefs that conflict with
accepting food stamps.
“Millions of low-income people are not accessing the nutrition benefits for
which they qualify,” the “myth” sheet explains. “To be effective, it is
important that our national and local outreach efforts counter myths about SNAP
among those who think they are not eligible or have beliefs that discourage them
from enrolling.”
USDA claims that eligible people who do not participate are actually harming
their communities by preventing additional funds from entering their respective
economies.
“SNAP is an investment in our future. It offers nutrition benefits to
participating clients, supports work, and provides economic benefits to
communities,” USDA explains on one of its outreach
pages. “However, too many low-income people who
are eligible for the program do not participate and thus forgo nutrition
assistance that could stretch their food dollars at the grocery store. Their
communities lose out on the benefits provided by new SNAP dollars flowing into
local economies.”
The agency adds that there are many hurdles — including reticence to accept
government aid — that SNAP advocates must overcome in order to make eligible
people accept the government’s help.
According to the USDA,
65 percent of those eligible claim SNAP benefits,
a number the agency has been working to increase.
“The most common reason eligible people do not participate is because they do
not realize they may be eligible,” USDA
explains. “Others choose not to apply because of
myths or misunderstandings about SNAP benefits or because of stigma that
continues to persist. Others make a cost-benefit decision that the time involved
in applying for benefits is not worth the expected return. Some do not want to
accept government assistance.”
The USDA also claims increasing food stamp participation is an economic
stimulus.
“Outreach and education are powerful tools in overcoming barriers to SNAP
participation. Even a small increase in SNAP participation can have a
substantial impact,” USDA
continues. “If the national participation rate
rose 5 percentage points, 1.9 million more low-income people would have an
additional $1.3 billion in benefits per year to use to purchase healthy food and
$2.5 billion total in new economic activity would be generated nationwide.”
Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking member of the Senate
Budget Committee, described USDA’s assertion that food stamps are beneficial to
the economy as “ludicrous.”
Sessions, who has had his eye on food stamp reform for years, added that
USDA’s focus on reducing cultural impediments to food stamp participation is
particularly concerning.
“I think it’s a deep problem when SNAP officials think it is their duty to
overcome ‘mountain pride’ or overcome the American sense of independence and
individual responsibility,” Sessions told The Daily Caller in an interview.
“They seem to think that is an anachronism and that modern Americans shouldn’t
have pride and independence. I think it is highly troubling actually.”
(SEE
ALSO: USDA suggests food stamp parties, games to increase
participation)
The Alabama senator’s most recent attempts at SNAP reform, in the 2012 farm
bill — 80 percent of which was food stamp spending — were voted down by the
Democratic majority in the Senate.
SNAP spending has doubled since 2008 and quadrupled since 2001. Participation
has increased from 1-in-50 on food stamps in the 1970s to 1-in-7 today.
In a statement to The Daily Caller, USDA spokesman Alyn G. Kiel explained the
agency’s SNAP outreach effort as an information distribution partnership with
state and local agencies, advocates, employers, community and faith-based
organizations, and others to help eligible people decide if they want to
participate in SNAP.
“Congress allocates funds to USDA with the mandate to conduct public
education about the benefits of SNAP and how to apply to help reduce hunger in
America,” she explained in an email. “The agency began airing radio ads in 2004
and more recently developed a Community Toolkit to help organizations engage
with elderly people who may be eligible but are not participating in SNAP.
Public education is targeted to eligible individuals in the populations and
geographic areas with the most need including the elderly and working poor.”
While Sessions does not begrudge food for those truly in need, he argues that
the goal should be giving Americans the tools they need to get off food stamps,
not adopting strategies to get more people on them.
(FLASHBACK:
Lottery winner using food stamps: ‘I thought maybe it was okay because I’m not
working’)
To be sure, USDA claims that 50 percent of new participants leave the program
within 9 months of enrolling — a statistic derived from a 1998 study — and that
the assistance can help keep recipients healthy for work.
“Employees whose nutrition needs are met at home may be healthier and thus
may take fewer sick days for themselves or their children. Employees may stay
longer with companies that care about them by sharing information about SNAP
benefits and its importance as a work support,” USDA
explains. “SNAP helps families become financially
stable and make the transition to self-sufficiency, getting them through the
tough times.”
USDA contends that SNAP even offers incentives to get back to work, as SNAP
benefits only decrease by 24 to 36 cents for every additional dollar a SNAP
participant earns.
In the interim, however, USDA wants as many people as it can muster to join
the program.
The Daily Caller
reported
last week that the USDA has been encouraging local SNAP offices to recruit with
SNAP parties and games. CNN Money further
reported that for the last four months the agency
was running
paid radio ads — costing taxpayers between $2.5
million to $3 million — in California, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Ohio and the New York City metro area.
According to Sessions, there needs to be top-down reform of the program,
commencing with actually categorizing SNAP as a welfare program.
“It should be coordinated with all the other welfare programs in an effort to
move people from help to work, to help people move from temporary assistance to
work and gainful employment,” Sessions said. “This is what the 1996 welfare
reform focused on and it was very successful, but it does appear that we have
slid back from that. The whole country needs to once again go through these
programs and make them as beneficial to the recipients as
possible.”
Read the original article
here at The Daily Caller.
~~~~~
Now they're taking your dignity. And telling you that it's for your own good. They are telling you that your dependence on the Fed is a good thing. How fucked up is that?
Stay safe.
