Banning sodas is a lot different than refusing to let government money subsidize their purchase

Banning sodas is a lot different than refusing to let government money subsidize their purchase

foodstamps Health Regulation

5% of food stamps supposedly go to sodas.  Instead of regulating everyone's intake of sodas, why not ban letting food stamp dollars being spent on them?

food stamps, makes up about $80 billion of the $100 billion a year cost of the farm bill, providing aid to some 46 million people. . . .

From the Washington Post:

The 42 million Americans receiving federal food stamps use those benefits to buy $4 billion of soda every year, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. . . .

Should food stamps be used to buy junk food?

Should food stamps be used to buy junk food?

foodstamps

Florida seems to be joining the movement in other states to limit what food stamps can be used for. Why not limit it even further to really basic foods that aren't already? For example, not allowing the money to be spent on TV dinners.

Florida's poor can use food stamps to buy staples like milk, vegetables, fruits and meat. But they can also use them to buy sweets like cakes, cookies and Jell-O and snack foods like chips, something a state senator wants stopped.
Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, also wants to limit other welfare funds, known as Temporary Assistance For Needy Families, from being used at ATMs in casinos and strip clubs and anywhere out of state. The bill comes after reports that the debit cards welfare recipients now receive were used in those places, as well as locations in Las Vegas and the Virgin Islands in a small percentage of cases, but the state does not track what items were purchased.
The bill recently passed a committee. A companion bill in the state House companion is being considered by a subcommittee.
The bill would also require the state to launch a culturally sensitive campaign to educate people about the benefits of a nutritious diet. Supporters say it would help recipients follow healthy eating habits and prevent taxpayer funds from being used to purchase luxury foods like bakery cakes when they can whip up a cheaper box mix.
"Most individuals using public assistance dollars are using the funds to get by and to provide for their families. However, we should do what we can to prevent dollars intended to help Florida's poorest families from being spent in the wrong places," Storms said in a statement. . . .

Should food stamps be used for fast food?

Should food stamps be used for fast food?

deficits foodstamps welfare

How much further could food stamps go in providing food if people had to use them at grocery stores to buy basic food? If you buy already prepared food, you pay more. Should taxpayers pay to have the food prepared or just to provide the food? It is amusing that Democrats who want to make it impossible for people to spend their own money at fast food places have no problem letting food stamps be spent there. Sen. David Vitter is pushing this reform:

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., joined last week with three other conservative GOP senators to propose caps on means-tested federal social welfare programs. It would require that funding for food stamps and 76 other federal welfare programs be capped at pre-2007 levels by 2015 or when unemployment falls below 7.5 percent, whichever comes sooner.
It would require that food stamps be limited to essential foods such as milk and bread, as the senators said the program was originally envisioned, not, as it is in four states -- California, Florida, Arizona and Michigan -- for purchases at fast-food restaurants.
"One of the most significant substantive accomplishments coming out of the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress was welfare reform," Vitter said. "But as significant as this reform was, we are overdue to renew welfare reform efforts and make additional gains because the welfare state has grown enormously since then -- even factoring our recession." . . .

Obama Administration rejects trial experiment in NYC that would have temporarily stopped using Food Stamps on SweetenedSodas

Obama Administration rejects trial experiment in NYC that would have temporarily stopped using Food Stamps on SweetenedSodas

Foods foodstamps poverty

There is a problem: the poor on food stamps are obese.

There is, on the other hand, a lot of evidence of obesity among the poor; their obesity rate is estimated at 36%, and the obesity rate among poor children seems to be about twice the rate among non-poor children. The poor people are eating more calories than they need. . . .

Apparently, there is some research claiming that soda and potato chips are the two worst foods for your weight.



So why not say if the government is going to pay for your food, we will restrict what you can buy. You are not allowed to use food stamps to buy alcohol, so why not some other types of drinks that are deemed wasteful?



Well, NYC tried, but the Obama administration said no. Possibly, they just don't want to discourage people from going on food stamps.

While sharing the goal of reducing obesity, an official with the nation's food stamp program said in a letter Friday addressed to the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance that the USDA had concerns about the plan's "potential viability and effectiveness."



Jessica Shahin, associate administrator of the program, wrote that the proposal lacked clear product eligibility guidelines, didn't take into account the burden that might be placed on city food retailers and failed to put forward a credible design for evaluating the effect on obesity and health. . . .

A "burden that might be placed on city food retailers"? How is that possible? If consumers change what they want to buy for any reason, why wouldn't food stores start stocking the new products that they want to buy?



Here is the weird thing. The Obama administration has no problems restricting what Americans in general eat, but that they don't want to restrict what those who the get their food costs paid by the government eat. Examples:



1) Salt:

The FDA, acting on a recommendation to be made by a task force of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, is about to take the unprecedented step of regulating the salt content of processed foods. . . .

2) the FDA's New Calorie Count Regulations