Sen. Patty Ritchie, R-Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence County, introduced a bill Wednesday that would further restrict the types of purchases that can be made through the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as the food stamp program.
Ritchie’s bill would target what she calls “luxury food items,” blocking food stamp recipients from using their benefits to purchase certain foods that are either high-end or not nutritious.The legislation would require the state Office of Temporarily Disability Assistance to come up with a list of prohibited items.
But the bill’s memo lays out some examples: lobster, certain steaks, decorated cakes and energy drinks, to name a few.
!snip!
And what is the meatheaded progressive response?
Outrage that the Republicans would imply that poor people are using food stamps to buy steak and lobster!! How dare they think or say such a ludicrous thing!!!
So why can’t we pass a bill that says they can’t do it?
This reminds me of when the left laughed at Alabama and Oklahoma when they wanted to pass a law saying that Sharia law be banned from our government.
They said it wasn’t necessary and were outraged at such lunacy. They said there were no Muslims there, so why were they worried?
Uhhh, was it lunacy, now that millions are poised to be placed all around the country as part of a continuing refugee placement program?
Let’s pass the steak and lobster bill. You can be outraged at the stupidity of its passing.
Next up: Auctioning off durable power of attorney for those people on public assistance. It’s not slavery, it’s the privatization of public assistance.
EBT should only cover generic bread, milk, butter, cheese, peanut butter, flour, Ramen Noodles, & bologna.
I could survive on that.
Beggars can’t be selectors.
Beans and rice – if they want meat, there is meat under every rock. They can live on that and have some incentive to do something about the situation they are in.
And if they get food stamps or EBT and their offspring show up without a sack lunch charge the parents with child neglect/abuse
EBT recipients should also be tested for alcohol, weed, and tobacco products.
Caught using? One month EBT suspension.
Caught twice? Permanent lifetime ban.
I am not a hard core asshole, however, I am an asshole, (by some standards).
We are talking about survival, not a luxuriant lifestyle at the expense of hard working, tax-paying Americans.
Shit, as a child, our family of seven kids and two adults, we were damn glad to get a (paper gunny-sack) filled with bread and sometimes a couple of week-old donuts.
Back then…..we didn’t ‘brag’ about being on an ‘assistant’ program.
It damn sure made me stronger…..I’ll do whatever it takes to stand on my own two feet today and avoid relying on handouts.
“I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
― Benjamin Franklin
True then, still true today. If all I can afford is ground beef, a pound of spaghetti and a jar of Ragu — in order to afford to pay for a catastrophic insurance plan, in order to pay for my kid’s tuition and books, in order to pay for ….. The last thing I want to see is someone in the latest Nikes talking on the latest iPhone, wearing chunky gold chains, fresh weaves and a French pedicure while pushing a shopping cart filled with Doritos, Red Bulls, and pre-made deli and bakery goods — then “paying” for it all with their EBT card.
The 7 Most Ridiculous Things You Can Buy With Food Stamps
http://www.youngcons.com/the-7-most-ridiculous-things-you-can-buy-with-food-stamps/
If you’re going to feed the poor, then feed them. Don’t pay them. The mechanism already exists to mass produce and package MREs for the military. With minor alteration / augmentation packages could be created suitable for families with kids. Have grocery stores stock the meal packs so that local businesses continue to have a money-earning role. If the recipients want to sell their packages for cash and use the cash for something else, make sure they know that they are the cause of their own hunger, so tough it out.
I understand that welfare recipients often trade so that they can get cash to buy alcohol. So, the alcohol and drug testing seems like a great idea. Also restricting it to just the basics makes sense. There are too many hard-working people eating top Ramen to pay their mortgage so I feel little for parasites.
Schools already serve breakfast and lunch at no out of pocket cost to the poor. They are doomed to Michelle’s meal restrictions and controlled portions, but that is too bad..
Why not provide three meals a day to poor adults as well as the kids? People on welfare would have to go to the school cafeteria for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With strict meal times. Heck, welfare kids might actually eat a meal with their parents.
Uncle Al, if yer gonna start making sense,
I’m gonna go home {|;>)
If the intent were to feed the poor you are absolutely correct. However if the intent is to destroy Capitalism by overwhelming the system, pushing society into crisis and economic collapse this is an excellent method! It just keeps snowballing demands for with more and more under the umbrella of “helping the keeds” and the poor, turning the United States into a Third World shit-hole as the logical end… and we’re almost there!
At the Stop ‘n’ Shop in Yonkers I would always see the the welfare queens using WIC vouchers to purchase name-brand foods such as Kellogg’s corn flakes and Haagen-Dasz ice cream. These thieves live better than I do–I stuff my cart with generics because they’re more wallet-friendly. I would definitely support a ban on premium brands purchased with gubmint money.
About 15 yeas ago, my daughter’s school was collecting Lucky’s receipts, which they would then turn over to Lucky’s to receive some sort of equipment for school. So when I saw any Lucky’s receipts lying on the ground while shopping, I’d pick them up. One day, as I was loading my groceries into my car, I sàw a receipt on the ground, picked it up for the school, then read what was on it. There was nothing but high end items listed, including London Broil, giant tiger prawns, etc. And down at the bottom of the receipt, the method of payment listed was food stamps. I remember thinking wow, this person on welfare is eating better than my family where the two heads of household are gainfully employed in very good jobs.
The biggest beneficiaries of the food stamp program are the snack food and soda companies: Pepsi/Frito Lay has a MAJOR lobbying presence to keep their products approved.
The government cries about obesity and then supports with our tax dollars the causes of that obesity —laying the future cost of caring for the medical care that engenders on us, too.
Time to go back to government cheese and dairy products only.
Um, yeah, I’ve been in line behind EBT recipients plenty of times, Hispanics and blacks mostly, come up to the counter with TWO carts overflowing with steaks, chips, cookies, shrimp, ice cream, sodas, etc. Then they pull out a wad of cash to pay for the beer and cigarettes. Then they go out and load all that food into a vehicle a helluva lot newer and nicer than most in the parking lot.
IMHO, EBT benefits should be allowed to purchase basic necessities, like others have mentioned. And by all means institute a drug test program in order to receive ANY type of assistance. And force them to at least do volunteer work 10-20 hours a week.
This cradle to grave welfare bullshit is not only unsustainable, it’s just liable to spark a class war between the middle and lower class.
That’s just my opinion.
Shit, I think all those progs should be able to buy black heroin with their EBT cards. Thin out the crowd.
When I was a lad, at least here in CA, one could only purchase staples with food stamps or assistance vouchers. You could buy the ingredients to make a cake, or to make ice cream, but about the only processed items you could buy were bread and milk.
It worked very well, no one starved.
People on assistance have time to prepare food. There is no reason for us to pay to prepare it for them.
AFT! (About Fookin’ Time {I just made that one up})
They take EBT cards at Jack in the Box!
Jack in the Box!
For starters, eating out is a luxury.
A. Luxury. Not. Subsistence.
There should be a bell that goes off every time some Leech has lunch on the public dime.
That way the folks paying for it can yell “you’re welcome!”
Better still….
Have an EBT Line at the grocery stores. Staffed with four helpers to return non-approved items back to the shelves, and the rest of us can watch and judge.
I vote for Uncle Al’s idea.
When I’m President he gets a cabinet slot
Don’t forget the whole reason they got rid of food stamps and replaced them with EBT cards was so we taxpayers wouldn’t get pissed off when we were behind those freeloaders in the grocery line.
There was a time when we used hand stamping machines in grocery stores and the clerks/cashiers had to actually read the sticker to determine if the product was “grocery”, “hardware”, etc. With computers and bar codes, a microprocessor does that job. How hard is it to program a store computer to authorize those items eligible for EBT/food stamps?
Canned food, uncooked & unprocessed meats/fish/poultry/eggs, breads, raw/bagged fruits & vegetables, dairy products, and frozen juices, YES. Maybe even store brand bottled water in gallon (or larger) jugs and store brand vitamins and TP too. Boxed meals (macaroni & cheese), MAYBE.
TV dinners, pre-cooked deli-meats & salads, soda/energy drinks, snack foods, alcohol, and live seafood, NO. Pet food, NO. Fast food, NO.
EBT/food stamps should ONLY be authorized for use at a certified GROCERY store. Gas stations/7-11’s, NO! MacDonalts, NO! NO PREPARED FOODS EVER!
The technology is available, let’s us use it.
And the free/reduced school lunch program should be tied to the total EBT/food stamp entitlement.
One more thing and I’ll go; At the beginning of the month/term/period, the entitlement resets the full dollar amount ONLY. It should NEVER accrue any additional value, nor be able to run a deficit.
I watched a extremely fat, Aunt Jemima type buy twenty pounds of Alaskan King crab at a high end seafood market and use an EBT card to pay for it. $400! I wonder what King crab tastes like?
When you turn your state into a socialist Hell-hole, don’t bitch and complain when the parasites avail themselves of your stupidity.
Parasites, are, by nature, opportunistic.
So end welfare for the able-bodied, or Shut The Fuck Up.