It’s a brilliant idea – and one that any Republican governor could have tried in order to look somewhat human – but Oregon’s Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski, along with the First Lady, will live on an average food stamp budget for one week.
First, a little background. The Food Stamp Program (substantiating links below) was originally conceived by FDR as a way to move farm surplus production to Americans who needed food. It became a federal food and nutrition program for the poor under President Nixon. "Food stamps" were a kind of alternate currency, redeemable only at grocers that participated in this USDA program. The next major change was under President Clinton, who, in signing federal welfare reform into law in 1996, mandated the use of plastic cards, which have now completely replaced paper food stamps.
With the use of these cards, called "EBT" cards for "electronic benefit transfer," although the absolute dollar value of the program has gone up considerably, fraudulent use of the benefit has dropped from 10% annually in the paper environment to about 1%. In fact, the "Food Stamp Program" is such a misnomer that several states are considering renaming the program and this is also likely at the federal level. The program is up for its reauthorization this year, as a part of the national Farm Bill, which is renewed every five years (that’s why we’ll soon hear the conservatives rightfully railing about huge farm subsidies, which I believe mostly go to agribusiness).
The benefit itself is none too generous, even at the top end of the benefit scale, but Bush has proposed significant cuts in the program. Kulongoski is becoming an advocate for those who can least advocate for themselves: program participants. To show that he can walk the walk when he talks the talk, he and the missus are going to live as Food Stamp Program benefit recipients for a week. Unfortunately, even Gov. Kulongski makes light, noting that he’s going on a diet compared to his regular board of fare:
Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his wife are used to eating the best their bountiful state has to offer: fresh salmon, huckleberries and mushrooms foraged from the Cascade mountains.
Next week will be different. They'll spend just $3 a day each on their meals, $42 in all, to match the amount spent by the average food stamp recipient in Oregon.
"My wife came up to me and said, 'Either you or the dog is going on a diet. I lost,'" Kulongoski quipped while announcing the food stamp challenge recently and inviting others to join.
Your heart is in the right place, Ted, isn’t that a bit cynical? For tens of millions of Americans, this isn’t a lark that they "quip" about, it's not a "challenge" like a yacht regatta, and it isn’t a fad diet. It’s life. Day in, day out, it’s life. Anyway, his press release is more suitable:
"Many of us will never know what it’s like not to know where our next meal will come from or whether we’ll have enough food in the cupboard to make it through the week," Governor Kulongoski continued. "My hope is that by participating in the food stamp challenge, Oregonians will gain a better understanding of what hundreds of thousands of Oregonians experience each month as they try to afford meet their families’ basic needs – transportation, housing, child care, health care – and food."
So please put my sarcasm aside and feel free to give the Guv some Luv at his website contact.
And now, for Sunday morning fun, tell me who you think ought to try the program, not just for a week, but an entire month—maybe a year. For any Iraqi family, it would be the comparable lap of luxury. Me, I’m teeing up Fat Ass Rush Limbaugh. Let’s see if he skinnys up a bit, eating like people who can’t get a decent job, much less a cushy spot as a Millionaire Moralist preaching the gospels of hate. And while we’re at it, how about some Medicaid for him so he can cut down on his painkillers and Viagara.
So let me hear it: Who else should follow Kulongoski’s example?
Good links for info on the program:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/...
http://usgovinfo.about.com/...
http://www.frac.org/...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
With lots more links within, you can become nauseatingly expert in this area with a couple of hours reading time.