Pic Of The Moment: Louie Gohmert Strikes Again

[bread_and_roses]

70. WIC and SNAP are different - WIC far more restricted choice

WIC is very regulated to assure the babies and children are getting nutritious foods and specifies foods - down to brands (in some cases) and which sizes.

SNAP also has some regulations: no non-food items (even things like toilet paper) and I think (but pretty sure) no imported foods.

But when it comes to something like beef, for instance, you can buy steak or the cheapest ground beef with SNAP - the inherent restrictions are in the cost.

If you are on "welfare" you are going to try to make the SNAP benefit feed you (and your kids, if applicable) through the month. Most people don't know that "Food Stamps" were not intended to cover the month's food. I don't know the terminology Under the Clinton deformed revision, but when it was Aid to Dependent Children your "welfare" benefit included a category called "food/clothing/incidentals" (or something like that). Of course, it was a very few $ per person and if you wanted things like soap, laundry detergent, and toilet paper you used it up pretty quick - with none left over for "food." Thus, the end of the month regular run on the local Food Banks. There was no way you could get through the month on the "Food Stamps" and the FCI. I'm sure it's the same under "Welfare Deform" today.

I worked for a long time with people on "welfare." I still know people who subsist on benefits. They are not buying King Crab. Or good steak. And at the end of the month, they're often subsisting on the instant mashed potatoes and generic soup they got from the food bank.

And if once in a blue moon someone does break down and buy a "luxury" item then so what? Miserable authoritarians complain too when they buy chips and soday - in the families I worked with, that was their big luxury - and they're ONLY luxury. Some chips, for goddess sake. We should have a guaranteed national income and national health care and universal free education and and and. Instead we shovel $$$ to the wealthy and our Corporate Overlords.