Americans on food stamps could be banned from buying ‘bad food and sugary drinks,’ Trump USDA chief says
“When a taxpayer is putting money into SNAP, are we OK with us using their tax dollars to feed really bad food and sugary drinks to children who perhaps need something more nutritious?”…
It’s about time!! Watching food stamps being used at gas stations for pop and cookies or chips drives me crazy!!!
Not only that. Food stamps given to homeless people and disabled allows them to use EBT for fast food places. They can’t go to any other restaurants or even get a sandwich somewhere instead. Burgers and fries is all. I assume the fastfood industry lobbied on this.
they can go to the deli and get a cold sandwich at the grocery store.
Yeah, I know in most states they can only buy cold food with food stamps. Doesn't stop them from buying junk at the grocery store though.
Take there Obama cell phones away too they can BUY their own too
How about Trump internet (starlink) instead of Obama phones. Then they at least have to meet us in the middle and buy a simple and cheap computer or phone to go with it. Kinda like with the cold food thing where you have to show some responsibility and figure out how to cook it yourself.
This will help which States need it implemented ASAP. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data-and-statistics/adult-obesity-prevalence-maps.html
They need to go back to giving these people a bag of rice, a bag of beans, a bag of flour, dried milk, and cheese in bulk and leave it at that. If they want to eat something else, they can get a fucking job and pay for it themselves.
This. A prepackaged box of foods. You go to the grocery pick up parking at Wal-Mart and turn over your paperwork for you and your 2 kids. They bring you one adult and two kids boxes and off you go. When you get tired of that food, find a way to get some work.
You are correct. So what recommendations do you have for solving this problem?
People who work can still be struggling.
Life is struggle. Struggle is the truest freedom.
Every day we make choices. Those choices determine how our life plays out. Negative attitudes don't help one move forward.
Amen!
Thanks, but you couldn’t handle me, handshake account. You apparently can’t handle personal responsibility either. Have a great day!
Before food stamps became a thing - the government subsidized farmers to produce food, bought the excess products and distributed powdered milk, cheese, and a few other food staples to low income people.
The Women, infant, children (WIC) program distributed vouchers for milk, juice, baby cereal, formula through the health departments where low income often received their prenatal and well baby checkups.
There is also a program that gives Seniors vouchers to buy produce at Farmer's Markets.
Food stamps and later Electronic benefit transaction (EBT) cards opened the floodgates for abuse.
I think it would be wise to look at the old ways. Pepsi and cheetos are not food.
I can one up that. The criminal element out there, started making 3rd party apps for them to be able to "check the balance" on their food stamp account. The criminals know when the food stamps are loaded on their card, which is usually between midnight and one in the morning. By the time these lazy fuckers drag their asses out of bed, every penny is wiped out of their account.
But you want to know the real asskicker?! Pennsylvania was reimbursing them for the "stolen" monies. So they were getting paid twice.
Give an inch and they take a mile. It is time for some tough love on these takers cuz the givers have had enough!
quick reminder that corporate welfare takes way far more from us and adds to the c-suite riches far more than any of the welfare queens of headline learning.
And of course the banksters, the core satanic faction, take their cut with the EBT.
Surprise, surprise. NOT>
they should make sure that underpriveledged folks get the highest quality foods. They can be on this high quality food assistance program until they can afford to eat as well as the rest of us do. At that point they can pay for it themselves like we do. Then everyone will be as healthy as we are. Its simple when you take the easy low hanging fruit out of the equation!
It used to be that way. I worked in a pasta plant when I was in my early 20s and anything we packaged for USDA, military grade was the highest quality pasta we packaged. I can't speak for other companies. This was almost 40 years ago, but I remember filling usda orders because I was the one filling and scaling the boxes.
Agree - food stamp and school lunch programs both need an overhaul so people can get nutricious food only. I hope MAHA makes a lot of progress on all our food quality.
Many of the Hogie stores sell cigarettes and booze for food stamps by ringing up as food. When I worked at a SNAP office one got caught because he was taking in 35k a month in food stamps when the average store was doing 7,000 a month.
Also people sell their food stamps by paying for your groceries for a discount. Sometimes up to half price. They then go get the free food handed out by various groups, meals, boxes, and bags of it.
Give the people food not an EBT card...
Already had clients call the agency raising hell when they heard about this. I still think we should be providing physical food.
Yes, because it's the most cost effective way.
There's no cost advantage sending someone to a grocery store to buy a block of cheese.
There's a major cost advantage to buying 100,000 blocks of cheese.
Make Government Cheese Great Again
That’s a cheesy slogan
Food Stamps were replaced with the EBT card so they could use it at restaurants and buy anything but alcohol-----but if you knew the right people!! Many would sell the EBT card to the corrupt store owner for half the value to get cash for dope!
Or take their drug dealer shopping for steak and crab legs
Can confirm, this was actually happening. Steak and Lobster on food stamps.
When you learn about corporate welfare you'll be pretty fukin torqued.
Because those not on the dole can’t afford it. Why do we have to pay for others to get it?
my aunt would give people 100$ cash for every 250 of ebt, when people argue it dont happen i see it happening within my own family
In states w deposit they will buy a case of cheap pop..pour it out in parking lot and return for cash
The tax payers. No more goy slop,only basics. Don't like it? Starve. There is no money left to give away soon.
Not in my opinion! You don't need beer to make hush puppies! Kek
I have been saying this for years.
They also should be drug tested.
I use to work three jobs one at a gas station with a convenience store. Use to get yelled at by individuals because they weren't able to use their EBT card. As they walk out to their brand new Audi SUV
"Welfare queens don't exist" they scream while everyone who's ever worked in a grocery or convenience store knows damn well that they do.
I’m going to throw this out there. We need to bring back Home Economics before we can expect any of the people receiving food stamps to know what to do with uncooked food. How to make something without using the microwave. Nutritional values of various foods. What the body requires to run, i.e. proteins, fats, sugars, vitamins, minerals and what we need them for. Arm them with knowledge. We just might turn this ship around if we plan wisely.
Part of this op to destroy the black family includes the fact that if the father lives at the home they get less help. Lets change that to if the father lives in the home they get more. We must incentivize the family as an entire unit not destroy it.
This is little realized, but very true.
Good! That would in turn save us on Medicaid down the road.
My husband's family would not have survived without food help when he was a boy. His father left the family two months after the 9th baby was born. His mom got powdered milk, cheese, peanut butter, dried apricots and several other common staples. Junk food should not be allowed.
When I kicked me abusive ex out we were forced onto government programs. The first two months were easier we got food from my local church. They let me pick what I wanted from there "store" unhealthy foods available. Then we got snap and it's so impersonal. They give me a lot more then I need but I really miss going and getting food from people.
They used to have to buy the ingredients like flour sugar, eggs, butter to make cookies, cakes and other goods. No fast food, no gas stations, no delivery meats. Basics and you had to learn to actually use ingredients to make meals.
Pop, juices with sugar or corn syrup, sugar cereals, cookies, cakes, pies, candy, ice cream, potato chips, prepared foods (t.v. dinners, etc.) should be banned from the start. Then work on manufacturing to stop the additives and dyes.or don’t produce it at all. If they want those things learn how to make them from scratch, then there are zero preservatives or dyes. Also ban the use of EBT at fast food places.
This. Give them basic ingredients and cooking classes if they don't know what to do with them.
This single retired person can't cook 3 meals a day. I cook a large pot of "something", eat what I want, and put the rest of the hot meal in mason jars to eat for the next several days. It lasts a good bit longer when you "can" it like that. It's not real canning, though, but makes the food last 2-3 weeks if done right. Boiled eggs last several days. So no one has to cook 3 times every day.
A single friend of mine would cook several large items every weekend, and make lunches for the entire week. No cooking every day.
Adult Americans will continue to make choices that I do not like. Giving them access to food, even food that is less healthy than one approves of is a gift of food and freedom.
Like Lincoln said, "Let 'em up easy, boys". These are our countrymen. They are not "those people", they are not children, they are not humans that we are looking forward to their demise so that they will cost the country less.
Turning bulk food into meals takes time, expertise, equipment, energy and knowledge.
Do I think that encouragement towards a better diet is a good idea? Yes. Maybe a discount on fresh produce, etc. These people are US. How we treat the least of us says a lot more about us than any fast food diet.
I am shocked that steak and lobster (all protein, and fantastic nutrition) should be criticized just as much as cookies and chips are. WE that pay our taxes, and are in a position to help others, especially our own countrymen should do so, and I believe deep in our hearts even if we are frustrated, we want to help.
How about you go donate it out of your own pocket then? Go buy a cooler of lobsters and go hand them out to people who are "food insecure". At least those people will have a face to put with the generosity instead of expecting the government to provide it year after year.
Forcing people to pay in excess to ensure others luxuries is asinine.
Attack isn't the finest look, but I can see you're upset.
Lobster, BTW was the go-to poor peoples food in New England, and one was only allowed to feed indentured servants so much per their contracts. It was so looked down upon a that the stigma remained until the 1980's. Please see the movie "Mystic Pizza" with Julia Roberts.
Sir, I (like you, and everybody here) AM the government. We all donate money every paycheck.
Lobster in the Midwest is a luxury. Beef in Alaska is a luxury and oranges inside the arctic circle are rare. Location, rarity, and climate determine what is luxurious.
Not only do i not DONATE to the government, I am robbed out of every pay check. Im robbed every year I pay property taxes.
I am not the government. Im not employed by the government and while I vote every year, it makes me as much a part of it as my I am part of Google or Citicorp because Vanguard decided to put my 401k into these companies.
Luxuries are any good that are unnecessary or cost more than a alternative. Beans and rice are a great protein and provide excellent value over luxuries like beef or lobster.
Carbs in Rice 28g, beans 20g, lobster 0g, steak 0g.
Yes, very energy dense food. Great for feeding the food insecure. You won't be seeing people starving to death with beans and rice as a source.
This is so obvious that there has to be corruption at work. Just like with damn everything else.
This shows an underlying problem. People can't cook.
You are right; it really is a problem.
There is a lot of work in the background of every meal that makes it to the table.
If you're hungry you'll figure it out. It's called youtube.
Hell yes! More than HALF of Coca Cola's sales are from food stamps. End their freaking subsidy NOW!!!
I have been railing against liquid sugar for years. I don't mind it being legal, and in moderation it's fine. However, people on food stamps consider it a staple, because it's cheap, and they get more bang for their buck.
Why should we taxpayers be footing the bill for people indulging in their bad habits? On the other hand, though, if they persist I those bad habits, at some point they would remove themselves from the eating population altogether. Hmmmm...
But we pay for the medicaid when they get sick, which usually happens a long time before they - you know - remove themselves.😉
Ah... 'tis a conundrum.
I believe drug testing before you get any aid.
Depends on what you call aid and what you call drugs. I’m on SSDI. I smoke pot every day because I have many health issues that the dr can’t fix (despite many different surgeries, I think I’m at nine to date) and I have high pain. I don’t want to subject myself to the highest dosage of gabapentin, meloxicam, and others. Pot helps. Does this mean I shouldn’t get my SSDI?
Yes unless it is legal in your state.
Gabapentin sucks. They gave it to me for a serious back issue I had. I took myself off it within the month.. awful stuff.
At one time I was on the highest legal dosage possible (900mg three times a day) and meloxicam as well. I was a mess. Slurring my words and forgetting conversations. With pot, I’m now taking 900mg a day and no meloxicam. Back pain is no joke. Hope yours got resolved and you are doing well.
Thank you.. it is getting better but has taken years. I'll pray for you!
The reason it's like this is because people whined and moaned and complained in the 80s that they had to buy ramen to get by but food stamp recipients could buy meat and vegetables and 'live like a king'. I remember someone on local TV news playing as a cashier going "oh, if they have food stamps, they buy lobster and t-bones and I think it's just a waste!"
It's the same thing I see around poor people's cell phones being subsidized. If the government pays your $70 phone line, you can drop $22/mo on the iPhone ZOMG Edition to go with it, where you get the free-phone-that-might-not-actually-be-a-phone if you have to shoulder the $70 line fee yourself.
Foodstamps feeds the medical industry sick bodies.
We also used to find them on drug dealers who would take the cards in trade for drugs giving 50 cents on the dollar. Then sell them for u5 cents in the dollar to convert them back to cash.
And if food stamps were limited to staple ingredients, there wouldn't be as much desire for the stamps as currency for drugs.
That's a good thing.
In the 60ies, my father pass on leaving my mother 4 kids. I has nine. We lived in Texas. Years later I ask my mom why didn’t you get in to welfare. The look on her face and then she said welfare were for the “Very” it would have been very embarrassing to our family. Now days welfare is a badge of honor . I’m so tried of working 6 to 7 days a week to stay ahead. These welfare families have dogs, drive newt car than I do. It’s sickening
I can agree with this but how do you start . Ground beef in my town is over 4 dollars a lb a roast beef on sale is 26 dollars a box of just store brand Graham crackers is six. We aren't on any assistance in my house , but we watch for sales and do without things if they're too expensive.
I did get food stamps when my daughter was a baby that was almost 40 years ago, not everyone who's on them is abusing the system. I goy 90 a month, which helped a lot. I wad working making five dollars an hour and paying 50 a week for daycare and 215 a month for rent so half my income went to that the rest went for diapers and caring for a baby. I didn't use any of it for soda or candy we were just getting by. Now I go to the store buy five items and it's 30 bucks I don't know if I have a point lol, it's not all black and white a lot needs fixing food prices suck
Good, you want junk food, pay for it yourself and not on my dime. WIC does not allow junk, only certain items can be purchased.
Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
It’s a damn shame.
Not banned from buying - make it where there is a list of foods covered by SNAP. These items will be covered on your food stamp card, anything else you foot the bill yourself. Eliminate the obscene purchases of lobster and expensive steaks. Why should people on welfare be able to purchase foods that most working people can't afford?
I'm sure there will be hundreds of healthy items available, and if you're a basically healthy person staying home with kids, maybe you need to learn to cook some basic meals. Everyone needs to find at least 1-2 filling dishes that can be easily made at home. I make a large pot of some items, put the hot leftovers in mason jars, and eat on them several days.
Roast with potatoes and carrots. Eggs, toast, jam, juice, sausage in oven. I have a very simple recipe for "hamburger helper" that's basically like a huge pot of taco mix to eat on corn chips. And a no-cook fudge recipe, that as long as you can get powdered sugar, milk, butter, vanilla flavoring, and cocoa powder, you can make it easily at home.
Health insurance already has this setup for working people and those on Medicare - here are the treatments and drugs your insurance card provides, anything else, you pay for yourself.
Perhaps we also need an accounting of how the SNAP dollars are actually spent. I'm sure DOGE could help identify if money is being wasted.
SNAP: The Uncomfortable Truths about the Food Stamp Program
Another problem I know of from a local pantry here.. some people don't even have functioning kitchens.. no stove top or oven or refrigeration. So, when they "shop" at the pantry, they get canned goods like ravioli or cereals, etc. There are also many allergies to contend with. Not to mention likes and dislikes. (Don't feed me mushrooms.. we'll fight!)
There are many layers to this issue.
Make them walk the aisles too instead of putting their fat asses on the mechanized carts.
Sensationalist headline
No one "on Food Stamps will be banned from buying" crappy foods - subtly implying people not on Food Stamps would not be banned - that's propaganda
They'll just have to actually BUY them
THAT’S A NO_BRAINER!!! Everybody knows we shouldn’t pay for junk food. Commodities used to be BASIC to avoid starvation and was better food than the overpriced junk on the shelves.
Should allow supplements though, they have extra for supplements or healthy food during pandemic
I can hear the blubber whales reeeing and crying over not being able to drink a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper every day. (Seriously, I cannot understand how people who drink that much sugar in one day are even still alive after a week of that, let alone dozens of years!)
Would PowerAid Zero be on that list? It has no sugar.
Fake sugars should be removed from this world. I'm convinced they have played a large part in the current obesity epidemic. EVERY overweight person I know makes it a point to buy the fake sugar "diet" candies, cakes, cookies, drinks, etc. When we had "real" food back in the 50's and 60's, before fake sugar, overweight people were so rare, they might as well have been in the circus.
How Much Have Obesity Rates Risen Since 1950?
The article says it has risen from 10% in the 1950's to 35% in 2012, and I suspect it's much, much higher now in 2025.
I drink it for the taste. It actually does taste better than the regular PowerAid with corn syrup.
This would be great. If you happen to be in a Walmart in the beginning of the month, check out the mile-high carts of SNAP people. Just junk all the way.
Nope totally disagree. What you’re saying is everyone gets to dictate everyone else’s food choices. Or if you are a young mom and want to give your kids and occasional cookie or a little orange soda with their ice cream to make a float they can’t because someone’s feelings are hurt? I don’t care what they use their food stamps on as long as it is edible. Change the crap not the kids. I will not be part of “ big brother is watching” now or ever.
I think they should be able to at least buy staples like flour and sugar, even chocolate chips.. how about box mix of cake? I do wonder if they need the processed junk food and soda that has no nutritional value on the tax payer dollar? I agree in the freedom side, but also see a need for guidelines when public funding is involved. Where's the balance? I think it really boils down to abuse of the system, along with a need to bring back decent education, such as Home Ec in school, meal prep and planning, nutrition, budgets, etc. Even more, I'm hoping that the changes happening now will get people's finances to the point that there is barely any need for programs like SNAP.