Lawmakers on food stamps

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My first reaction to reading this: great idea! Lets do this instead of giving them a per diem. Funny how no Republicans took up the challenge though (granted its disappointing only 4 Dems did so).

Link

Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A13

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) stood before the refrigerated section of the Safeway on Capitol Hill yesterday and looked longingly at the eggs.

At $1.29 for a half-dozen, he couldn't afford them.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), right, deliberates with press secretary Brad Bauman about which items to keep in his basket as he buys $21 worth of groceries, the weekly food stamp allotment, as part of a House Hunger Caucus challenge.

Ryan and three other members of Congress have pledged to live for one week on $21 worth of food, the amount the average food stamp recipient receives in federal assistance. That's $3 a day or $1 a meal. They started yesterday.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), co-chairmen of the House Hunger Caucus, called on lawmakers to take the "Food Stamp Challenge" to raise awareness of hunger and what they say are inadequate benefits for food stamp recipients. Only two others, Ryan and Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), took them up on it.

"All of us in Congress live pretty good lives," said McGovern, who ate a single banana for breakfast yesterday and was going through caffeine withdrawal by midday. "We don't have to wake up worrying about the next meal. But there are a lot of Americans who do. I think it's wrong. I think it's immoral that in the U.S., the richest country in the world, people are hungry."

McGovern and Emerson have introduced legislation that would add $4 billion to the annual federal food stamp budget, which was $33 billion last year and covered 26 million Americans. The proposal could be incorporated by Congress into the new farm bill.


"We're trying to get this debate going," McGovern said. "There are more working people today getting food stamps than six years ago. . . . There's not a member of Congress that doesn't have hunger in their district."

According to the rules of the challenge, the four House members cannot eat anything beside their $21 worth of groceries. That means no food at the many receptions, dinners and fundraisers that fill a lawmaker's week.

At yesterday's weekly lunch meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, McGovern was mesmerized by an attractive roast beef sandwich with cheese. He noted the potato chips came in two flavors: sour cream and plain. But his own lunch consisted of some lentils he cooked for himself and brought to work in a plastic container.

This morning McGovern is hosting a fundraising breakfast for his reelection at Bistro Bis, the restaurant in the Hotel George. The catering charge is $20 per person for the breakfast -- nearly McGovern's entire food budget for this week -- but he won't be eating any of it.

And tonight he is to attend a fundraising dinner for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) thrown at the Georgetown mansion of oil heir Smith Bagley. "I guess I'll just drink tap water," McGovern said.

McGovern and his wife, Lisa, did their food shopping for the week with help from Toinette Wilson, a D.C. resident and mother of three who relies on food stamps. Wilson gave him some tips, but it was still a struggle, he said.

"No organic foods, no fresh vegetables, we were looking for the cheapest of everything," McGovern said. "We got spaghetti and hamburger meat that was high in fat -- the fattiest meat on the shelf. I have high cholesterol and always try to get the leanest, but it's expensive. It's almost impossible to make healthy choices on a food stamp diet."

The McGoverns have exempted their two children, ages 5 and 9, from the challenge. "I'm lucky when they eat anything," McGovern said.

At the Safeway, Ryan seemed to grow depressed as he realized the limits of his budget. "It's unbelievable," he said, filling his small grocery basket with peanut butter, jelly and bread. He bought a big bag of cornmeal that he says he'll try to fashion into grits for breakfast and polenta for dinner. And he grabbed some canned tomato sauce and pasta on sale. No money for meat, milk, juice, fresh fruit or vegetables, save for a single head of 32-cent garlic to flavor the tomato sauce.

"I don't know if this is going to make it," said the third-term Democrat, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 215 pounds. "By the end of the week, I'm going to be eating cornmeal and strawberry preserves."

Both lawmakers will keep blogs about the experience, McGovern at http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com and Ryan at http://timryan.house.gov.

[P562045]

An extra four billion dollars sure does sound like a big number. Until you start dividing by twenty six million people that is an extra $153.84 per year per person. That would be an extra $2.95 a week or an extra $0.42 extra day per person.

I hate to say this but this proposed legislation sounds like pure unadulterated liberalism to me.

[StockTrader]

Not to mention that the idea of welfare was to help people during the depression .... and here we are 70 years later, wasting money.

Nick

[hork]

Originally Posted by StockTrader

Not to mention that the idea of welfare was to help people during the depression .... and here we are 70 years later, wasting money.

Nick

you have to be patient. after all it took 213 years to get rid of the constitution so you've still got another 143 to go.

[P562045]

There is something else about this story that fascinates me for some reason.

Couldn't members of congress go to a grocery store without someone else.

I mean they could bring a calculator and do it themselves right?

It just shows me how out of touch some members of congress really can be.

I wonder what would happen if all of the handlers in Washington went on strike for a week?

[ldzppln]

Originally Posted by coolpeter72

There is something else about this story that fascinates me for some reason.

Couldn't members of congress go to a grocery store without someone else.

I mean they could bring a calculator and do it themselves right?

The person that helped out was a DC resident with 3 kids on the food stamp program. She was helping him/them find the "bargains".

[P562045]

So I guess the next question should be can a member of Congress find the bargains by themselves?

I think we should quiz members of congress on the cost of "normal" everyday items at the grocery store and see which one could come the closest.

Just from reading this story something tells me many of them would be way off.

And yes I did get this idea from the old Howard Stern television show. And the more "normal" the item was like peanut butter the more off Howard would be.

[ldzppln]

Originally Posted by coolpeter72

So I guess the next question should be can a member of Congress find the bargains by themselves?

I think we should quiz members of congress on the cost of "normal" everyday items at the grocery store and see which one could come the closest.

Just from reading this story something tells me many of them would be way off.

And yes I did get this idea from the old Howard Stern television show. And the more "normal" the item was like peanut butter the more off Howard would be.

Lots of people probably don't know how much groceries cost, because their spouse may do most of the shopping, but I agree, some of these guys are likely out of touch.

I know that milk is $3.39/gallon and the bread I like is ~$2.50/loaf, the beer I like is $7.99/six pack, lean ground beef is ~$4.00/pound, and a box of Cocoa Krispies is ~$3.50. There, I just blew through $21.

[-mmm-]

What kind of bread do you get ld? Bakery fresh? I just usually get the store brand thats usually about a buck a loaf (my only discerning taste...it has to be wheat). I dont even look at the bread thats over $2.

Im still not too far removed from my college days when I had to stretch my budget. Back than it was just the usual stuff like ramen noodles, mac and cheese, PBJs, and the Totinos pizzas that were 89 cents each back then (they're a little over a buck nowadays). But I know people on food stamps, and thats the kind of stuff they get (if not that than milk, cereal, and baby food and leave the non-perishables for food shelves). Heck to this day when I buy cereal I buy generic brands all the time since its $2-3 cheaper than name brands, esp when you get into stuff like Lucky Charms when all those extra dollars are going into is basically the packaging and advertising for it.

I know welfare as descibed here was somewhere part of the New Deal, but I thought today's welfare programs was more derivitive of LBJ's Great Society program (most of which got gutted when Reagan was elected), but I could be wrong since its not something Im well versed on.

It would have been nice to see more Congressmen try this though. Even with the raised minimum wage, a $20/week food budget is still what many people I know who work for that have to live on after dealing with rent, utilities, and other such needed expenses. But maybe thats my problem, I know too many poor people so I cant villanize them as being stupid or lazy or what not like what I hear from so many anti-welfare people.