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talkpolitics2013-06-18 03:32 pm
badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com) wrote in talkpolitics2013-06-18 03:32 pm
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The Silliness of the SNAP Challenge
So Newark mayor, New Jersey Senate special election candidate, and Official Favorite Democrat of Jeff Cory Booker did something called the "SNAP Challenge" last winter, where you live off of the average Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program payout for a week. A number of House Democrats are taking part this week, and have been sharing their results and such on Twitter.
The result has been pretty illuminating.
This first started hitting my radar when I learned of this example:
This is Rep. Donald Payne of New Jersey spending $1.08 on a single egg as part of the SNAP Challenge. Not long after that, word of Rep. Marc Veasey spending money day-by-day as opposed to preparing for the week, and even my own representative got involved:
Many conservative bloggers and Tweeters have been taking some time to discuss the Challenge a bit and how misleading it is. As we can see from the benefits available as of 2011, $4.50/day is about right for a single person on SNAP, but by no means does it require you to put grated cheese into a wrap in order to get some basic nourishment, either.
For example: Ben Dominich, who writes for RedState and is involved with the Heartland Institute, posted this tweet shortly after things started making the rounds:
Not too long after, Kristina Ribali of FreedomWorks went on a bit of a Twitter screed, which is collected at Twitchy. Some highlights:
My wife and I have been looking at our finances a lot closer now that we have the baby around. We're being smarter shoppers now that we're down an entire income, we've done a lot of work to make things work for our family. One thing we're doing is working harder to find sales, coupons, and the best deals available. This means hitting Wal-Mart instead of Stop and Shop, and buying more in bulk and freezing instead of going week-by-week. It adds up. According to the SNAP chart above (which assumes no extra state assistance, mind you), as a family of three we would qualify for close to $400 in benefits if we qualified, while we spent under $250 for the entire month for us between a bulk Wal-Mart run and catch-up purchases at the local supermarket - under the benefit for a family of two! And this isn't us buying a lot of beans and pasta (although we do buy a lot of beans and pasta because it goes great with our other meals), but it's instead us buying a bulk pack of sausages on sale that, combined with 3 cans of sauce and two boxes of pasta, completed six meals for under $12. Or buying the sale package of Cheerios plus a large gallon of milk that will provide at least 10 breakfasts for under $8 for the full purchase, never mind the fact that it probably takes a good 10-12 days to polish off a box of Cheerios, but I digress. And we're still not even firing on all cylinders. My wife is excited to go coupon hunting once things settle down and the baby gets into a bit more of a routine, and we'll save even more.
SNAP is meant to be supplemental, as it notes in the name. I get that it ends up being more than that for a lot of families, and that is fine, but with some smart shopping and smarter eating and preserving, there's a lot of generosity involved in the federal program alone, never mind any extra state assistance. When we spent $81b on the program federally in 2012, and smart shopping can get you well under the monthly benefit, it means SNAP is definitely something that can be looked at for cuts and reforms.
The result has been pretty illuminating.
This is Rep. Donald Payne of New Jersey spending $1.08 on a single egg as part of the SNAP Challenge. Not long after that, word of Rep. Marc Veasey spending money day-by-day as opposed to preparing for the week, and even my own representative got involved:
Again, not a lot of time to prepare meals today. A shredded cheese wrap and carrot will have to do. #snapchallenge pic.twitter.com/utr6GOKjHg
— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) June 13, 2013
Many conservative bloggers and Tweeters have been taking some time to discuss the Challenge a bit and how misleading it is. As we can see from the benefits available as of 2011, $4.50/day is about right for a single person on SNAP, but by no means does it require you to put grated cheese into a wrap in order to get some basic nourishment, either.
For example: Ben Dominich, who writes for RedState and is involved with the Heartland Institute, posted this tweet shortly after things started making the rounds:
Here is what I just bought at Safeway for $28.92. #SNAPchallenge pic.twitter.com/mEEvsdhOkj
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) June 13, 2013
Not too long after, Kristina Ribali of FreedomWorks went on a bit of a Twitter screed, which is collected at Twitchy. Some highlights:
27 items for $70.64. #snapchallenge as seen in @TheTransom. Hey congressmen, next time take a housewife shopping. pic.twitter.com/jeNJnw9V72
— Kristina Ribali (@KristinaRibali) June 14, 2013
No coupons, no buying bulk, no sales or even store cards. Just using common sense. #snapchallenge pic.twitter.com/HpIWrEVwLq
— Kristina Ribali (@KristinaRibali) June 14, 2013
If I was on the #snapchallenge for real I could have spent an additional $52, but it's my money so I didn't. pic.twitter.com/Xx8JJiIvho
— Kristina Ribali (@KristinaRibali) June 14, 2013
My wife and I have been looking at our finances a lot closer now that we have the baby around. We're being smarter shoppers now that we're down an entire income, we've done a lot of work to make things work for our family. One thing we're doing is working harder to find sales, coupons, and the best deals available. This means hitting Wal-Mart instead of Stop and Shop, and buying more in bulk and freezing instead of going week-by-week. It adds up. According to the SNAP chart above (which assumes no extra state assistance, mind you), as a family of three we would qualify for close to $400 in benefits if we qualified, while we spent under $250 for the entire month for us between a bulk Wal-Mart run and catch-up purchases at the local supermarket - under the benefit for a family of two! And this isn't us buying a lot of beans and pasta (although we do buy a lot of beans and pasta because it goes great with our other meals), but it's instead us buying a bulk pack of sausages on sale that, combined with 3 cans of sauce and two boxes of pasta, completed six meals for under $12. Or buying the sale package of Cheerios plus a large gallon of milk that will provide at least 10 breakfasts for under $8 for the full purchase, never mind the fact that it probably takes a good 10-12 days to polish off a box of Cheerios, but I digress. And we're still not even firing on all cylinders. My wife is excited to go coupon hunting once things settle down and the baby gets into a bit more of a routine, and we'll save even more.
SNAP is meant to be supplemental, as it notes in the name. I get that it ends up being more than that for a lot of families, and that is fine, but with some smart shopping and smarter eating and preserving, there's a lot of generosity involved in the federal program alone, never mind any extra state assistance. When we spent $81b on the program federally in 2012, and smart shopping can get you well under the monthly benefit, it means SNAP is definitely something that can be looked at for cuts and reforms.