Taking Food Away from Children and the Poor

It is too bad Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (IL-08) was not on the House floor last Wednesday when they voted on the McGovern Amendment to the Farm Bill which would have protected SNAP (the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, better known as “food stamps”). Tammy had participated in the SNAP Challenge, a challenge where participants attempted to live on the restrictions and allocations of SNAP for one week, and she would have likely given the amendment another “yes” vote. The amendment failed with a vote of 188-215. However, the biggest disappointment for the people of Illinois who sought to protect SNAP had to be Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17), who was involved in the initial cuts to SNAP in the Farm Bill due to her position on the Agricultural Committee, and who was the only Democrat in the Illinois delegation to vote against restoring SNAP. At least she is consistent.

Cheri Bustos' vote, however, is very disturbing given that she represents the Rockford area, which has been one of the hardest hit nationally by the recession, seeing unemployment numbers hitting double digits in the past few years with many residents who desperately rely on programs like SNAP to get by. However, her statements like, “I learned at a young age that balancing the family budget and living within our means is a question of values,” seems to indicate that she may feel this is an issue of lax fiscal responsibility. Does she realize that 83% of SNAP recipients come from households of three or more people with a combined household income of $19,200/year or less? Does she realize that another 83% of total recipients are children, the disabled, disabled veterans, military families, and seniors? Also, does she realize that $99 million worth of food stamps were redeemed at commissaries on United States military bases during 2012 and that additionally, those same commissaries sold some $31.2 million in goods under WIC (the Women, Infants and Children program)?

So, let's talk about fiscal responsibilities for a minute. Those families I mentioned are living off of $369/week or less. Think about how much your household spends on groceries and eating out each week. We have four in our household, which includes a growing toddler and an active senior, and straight groceries typically run $250-300/week. It measures up with the average that most households spend (between $150 and $300). This is also based on us not eating out, cooking at home, purchasing as many organic items as possible, going heavy on fresh fruits and vegetables, avoiding processed foods, and having access to better pricing due to the abundant choices in our community, such as places like Costco and Target. This means that each person in our household on average has approximately $9.80 spent on food for them each day. SNAP recipients receive $4.50.

Now, let's look at the low number for an average family of four for groceries – those who spend $150/week. It breaks down to $5.36 per person each day. Still more than SNAP provides. Now, let's return to that number of having $369 or LESS each week to live on. Even if we subtract groceries on the low end, these families have approximately $867/month left over. So, what about rent? A phone? Heat? Electricity? Healthcare? What about transportation to get to work? Gas and maintenance for a car? Bus or train fare? If there is a child in school, what are the fees? Many public schools in Illinois see enrollment and book fee for junior high and high school students as high as $1500/year. That would wipe out nearly 1/6 of the families money for the year after groceries. And we haven’t even talked about clothing, potential change for the laundry mat, home owners’ or renters’ insurance, having cable or internet service at home, maintenance costs for a vehicle, or the possibility of child or elder care expenses. Seriously consider this? Look in the paper or online. Can you afford rent and utilities for three to four people on $867/month in your community? I couldn’t.

Perhaps Congresswoman Bustos needs a math class before she says anymore about fiscal responsibility. I know Bustos drives to Illinois Congressional District 10 to do fundraising for herself, because I have attended one such event. Does she realize that each time she visits our district, based on miles, an average of 22 mpg, and current gas prices, that she is spending $30-35 (not counting tolls) to drive here, and that could mean the difference between a family member having food or not for a week based on the average income of a SNAP family? When she drives into Chicago for similar reasons it likely costs between $35 and $40, plus parking fees that typically start at $27. That means, the lowest cost point (again, not counting tolls) would be around $57. Could that SNAP family even afford to drive to Chicago? Can they afford the necessary transportation to even get to a job? This is NOT about a lack of fiscal responsibility for these families. It is about bad economic policies that are crushing Americans. It is about an economic and fiscal policy that leaves people without good and affordable transportation options, leaves them without good jobs or a wage that allows them to be self sufficient, leaves them without healthcare, leaves them without healthy food to eat or in some cases enough food, leaves them unable to supply books for school for their children, leaves them unable to pay for rent or utilities.

Punishing the poor for the economic policy failures of Washington, DC is not the way to solve this problem. It is neither constructive nor helpful, and truly, it is insulting to any of us who have been forced into a position where we have had to rely on such aid or have experienced the lack of such necessities due to having fallen on hard times economically through no fault of our own. The fact is, Congresswoman Bustos is making a tremendous salary (upwards of $175,000 per year with additional expense accounts for housing and travel to assist her), and she has been provided with multiple offices and a staff of intelligent people. Perhaps she might be better off putting those resources to work on figuring out what the root cause of the economic problem is and coming up with viable solutions, as opposed to taking a what she terms as “a common sense, bi-partisan approach” that appears completely disconnected from reality or the plight of those most harmed by such poor policy choices. Or perhaps things can be left as they are with the Farm Bill she helped to produce - one where corn products and the processed food industry are so heavily subsidized that the only option for poor families is to eat junk food in order to consume enough calories. Perhaps, Congresswoman Bustos' slogan for the next election could be, "Let them eat cake." I wonder where that would lead?

Jeanne Marie Dauray, Round Lake

National Issue Teams Coordinator

Progressive Democrats of America