This Affects YOU: If you Receive Food Stamps or Assistance

If you receive food stamps, there's a new plan in the works that changes the program in addition to cut benefits. The Republican Congress and President Trump want to cut food stamps and replace some food stamp benefits with canned goods.
WHAT THEY PROPOSE  -

   In a  proposal unveiled on Feb. 12, 2018, the Trump administration called for sharp spending reductions in a variety of anti-poverty programs. In addition to a steep 25 percent cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, Trump would fundamentally alter how the program works.

   Currently, SNAP gives 42 million Americans a food voucher worth $125 per person that can be redeemed for almost any food product in a grocery store. It’s one of the most important safety net programs in the U.S.

THEY TELL YOU WHAT YOU CAN EAT - The  budget document says, “households receiving $90 or more per month in SNAP benefits will receive a portion of their benefits in the form of a USDA Foods package, which would include items such as shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit, vegetables, and meat, poultry or fish.”

 Expensive "Blue Apron' gourmet meals GOP members use

WHITE HOUSE LIKENS IT TO GOURMET MEAL DELIVERIES - (wow, are they out of touch). White House budget director Mick Mulvaney likened the proposal to a “Blue Apron-type program where you actually receive the food instead of receive the cash.” 

But Blue Apron delivers ingredients for gourmet meals, not boxes of canned goods and shelf-stable milk. And the food would not necessarily be delivered to people’s homes, according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees food stamps. 

   Republicans, and even some Democrats, have long complained that poor people allegedly use their food stamps for foods that are unhealthy or too expensive, such as steak, lobster or soda. (The truth is that according to the best available data, food stamp recipients eat basically the same food as everyone else.)

"(NOT) DELIVERING" AMERICA'S "HARVEST BOX" PROGRAM
The USDA said the program would be called America’s Harvest Box: States would have flexibility to work out distribution, which could include home delivery or existing partnerships. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program works with local agencies which in turn partner with nonprofits to give out the food, often from distribution sites rather than by delivery.