26 Members of Congress to Live Off Food Stamp Budget to Protest Cuts

[damnedifIknow]

"Twenty-six members of Congress will live off of a food stamp budget this week to draw attention to House Republicans cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program’s eligibility requirements already leave out 50 million food insecure households, but another 2 million Americans would lose access to food stamps in the proposed changes for the Farm Bill.

The SNAP challenge means that Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and 25 participating members must try to live off of under $4.50 per day for food and drink. "

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/06/13/2147141/26-democrats-live-off-food-stamps-to-protest-republican-cuts/?mobile=nc

[postulater]

1. Try buying enough nutritious food to stay healthy on $30 a week.

Barely possible with the best of discipline and knowledge of nutrition.

Any length of time on that diet will cause health problems and then they end having to go to the ER for a crisis.

[damnedifIknow]

3. 4.50 a day?

That's a candy bar and a big gulp.

[postulater]

6. Don't know who that avatar pic is, but I feel like him today.

[penultimate]

12. Those two items would be irresponsible choices, but even making well thought out choices

I don't think anyone could survive on 4.50 a day for any real length of time...

Most of us could probably find a way to make it work, but we'd probably end up getting sick after awhile.

[rurallib]

9. is that $30/ household or $30/person?

[postulater]

10. I'm hoping it is $4.50 per person per day.

That would be obvious intentional starvation at $4.50 per household.

This way they make it seem like it's the recipient's fault for not being thrifty if they can't make it on $4.50 per day.

Two adults and a couple kids and you have $18.00. You could maybe buy a fresh vegetable and some protein if you lived in a neighborhood where the stores carried fresh vegetables.

[penultimate]

13. I've heard " if you lived in a neighborhood where the stores carried fresh vegetables." a few times

before. That seems strange to me, as I've never been anywhere (and I've lived all over the country) where there wasn't a place that had some veggies and fruits. I'm guessing this is because I've never lived in a truly poor inner city neighborhood (where I suspect this happens)

[postulater]

15. Some neighborhoods in Milwaukee are not walking distance from a store

that carries fresh food. The bus isn't always very convenient to use for carrying groceries so there are corner neighborhood convenience stores that people buy food from. Probably not the most nutritious stuff.

There is a nice thing happening in Milwaukee though. Will Allen has been teaching people how to grow food on city lots and in greenhouses. It is a good program for good food and is producing jobs too. He also runs training programs so people from other cities can see how it works here.

http://www.growingpower.org/

[LWolf]

2. The 26:

Congressman John Carney (D, DE)

Congressman Matthew Cartwright (D, PA-17)

Congressman Jim Crowley (D, NY-14)

Congressman John Conyers (D, MI-13)

Congressman Peter DeFazio (D, OR-04)

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA-01)

Congressman Theodore Deutch (D, FL-21)

Congressman Keith Ellison (D, MN-05)

Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham (D, NM-01)

Congressman Hank Johnson (D, GA-04)

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC)

Congressman Jared Huffman (D, CA-02)

Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D, IL-02)

Congressman Daniel Kildee (D, MI-05)

Congresswoman Ann Kuster (D, NH-02)

Congressman James Langevin (D, RI-02)

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D, CA-13)

Congressman Sander Levin (D, MI-09)

Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D, CA-06)

Congressman Jim McGovern (D, MA-02)

Congressman Richard Nolan (D, MN-08)

Congressman Beto O'Rourke (D, TX-16)

Congressman Donald Payne, Jr. (D, NJ-10)

Congressman Mark Pocan (D, WI-02)

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D, IL-09)

Congressman Marc Veasey (D, TX-33)

Congressman Melvin Watt (D, NC-12

http://lee.house.gov/press-release/full-member-list-congressional-snap-challenge

[rurallib]

8. not one cowardly republican in the lot.

gutless bastards.

[Drale]

4. The problem with stunts like this is

that one week isnt enough to get the "poor experience" and they all know that no matter what happens in the end they will have food in their bellies and a roof over their heads something that many "poor" people don't know on a daily basis.

[hughee99]

5. Yes, but the people who are doing this are already "on the right side". The point isn't to get THEM

to understand what it's like, it's to "raise awareness", and to attempt to give them more credibility when asking for more funding.

[postulater]

7. Agreed. It's awareness. nt

[Rex]

11. 26 out of 535?

The rest should be ashamed of themselves.

[bunnies]

14. +1000 nt