Don’t take food from needy

Opinion: June 14, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

By Darryl Lorenzo Wellington

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Congress should not cut federal nutritional assistance. I know. I myself have received needed assistance.

In 2009, in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, millions of Americans made a discovery they had apparently given little prior thought: The underemployed, or unemployed need to function, and to function they must eat. They may also have families to feed. They discovered there was no shame in applying for food stamps.

Approximately 1 in 7 Americans receives nutritional assistance. It is absurd to believe this is a measurement of how many citizens have seized an opportunity to “freeload.” It’s a measurement of dire necessity.

The U.S. Senate has already passed a bill that would result in across the board cuts in benefits, beginning Nov. 1, with a family of four losing $25 a month.

Even worse, a committee of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed a bill that would cut $20 billion from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, rendering millions of recipients ineligible and taking free lunches out of the hands of 200,000 low-income school children.

Households that meet the current eligibility requirements already live marginally. The average food stamp payment per person is a mere $133 a month.

I was told, when I got food stamps, that if my bank account exceeded $1,211, my SNAP assistance would drastically diminish or stop altogether. Given that my monthly rent and utilities approached $800, effectively this meant that saving a little more than a month’s lodgings jeopardized my ability to simultaneously remain in a home and feed myself.

Car ownership

Under the Republican House bill, a family of four would be eliminated from nutritional assistance if the net household savings, after deductions for rent and living expenses, exceeds $2,000 — regardless whether any household members are employed. Families may be eliminated for owning a car worth $2,000. A new study by the New York University School of Law reports that 1 in 6 Americans lives in a household that cannot afford adequate food, a statistic that includes 17 million children. Some Republicans say churches and other charities can provide for the needy. But there simply are not enough charitable programs to meet the dire needs of today.

While food insecurity remains perched at its highest ledge, Congress should not push people off into utter despair.

Darryl Lorenzo Wellington is a writer for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Distributed by MCT Information Services.