Low-income Wisconsin families won’t be able to buy shellfish with food stamps, and will have a much harder time getting basics like dried beans, pasta sauce, and cooking spices into their kitchens, under the latest state-level Republican proposal to tighten the government’s grip on the poor. A bill proposed by state Rep. Robert Brooks (R) would ban stores from accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cards for lobster, shrimp, and any other form of shellfish, and set a long list of additional rules for the first two-thirds of a recipient’s monthly spending. Lawmakers held a committee hearing Thursday on the bill, which would require a federal waiver to implement. An average of 420,000 households received SNAP each month in Wisconsin in 2014. The average recipient household got $220 per month from the program last year. Brooks’ restrictions would apply to all but $72.60 per month for the average household affected. And even that amount could not be spent on any form of shellfish.
I find it very interesting (and more than a little bit hypocritical) that many “small government” Conservative Republicans are also advocating for greater government control over what the poors buy with public assistance. While I’d certainly agree that no one wants poors buying caviar or Cristal…but come on; have you ever tried living on public assistance? If you really think that someone on welfare or unemployment insurance could reasonably afford the finer things in life clearly doesn’t have a freakin’ clue. Most public assistance stipends barely allow for recipients to cover rent/mortgage and utilities, never mind Kobe beef and fine champagne.
In what can only reasonably be attributed to the Right’s abject hatred of those in need of assistance, there’s a growing trend to demonize and shame the poor and unemployed. When you believe that being dealt a poor hand in life is evidence of a character flaw, I suppose punishing those in need makes perfect sense. As one who’s been on the low end of that equation, I can tell you that being on public assistance is demeaning enough without the help of self-superior Conservatives who believe that people on the dole are sucking at the teat of government, too lazy to do for themselves.
It gets even better in Wisconsin, where Conservative Republicans in the Legislature are trying to save the taxpayers money by squeezing those lazy, shiftless poors. In true “small government” fashion, the solution they’ve dreamed up to save money will actually cost millions to implement, even as no new sources of tax revenues have been found.
Spending money to (not) save money…now there’s some inspired leadership, eh?
To demonstrate the perils of food policing at Thursday’s hearing, a Democrat on the committee held up a plate of four different kinds of cheese. Although they are nutritionally indistinguishable, three of the four cheeses would be prohibited. “When you look at something like this cheese plate, there’s no evidence of sharp cheddar fraud. People are not buying sharp cheddar in order to defraud FoodShare, and there’s no nutritional difference. So if those are the stated goals, the bill is not accomplishing either,” Rep. Mark Spreitzer said.
Brooks’ bill is just the latest example of conservatives around the country being loudly concerned about the scourge of poor people making their own decisions. Kansas Republicans recently got a radical, unprecedented list of activities and purchases banned for SNAP and welfare recipients. The Maine GOP is working toward its own version of a “junk food ban,” while a Missouri version of the shellfish idea appears to be going nowhere in the statehouse.
The idea in Wisconsin seems to be that restricting those on public assistance to a very limited subset of items the money they receive can be used for, they’ll be forced to find a job. When you start from the supposition that anyone receiving welfare or unemployment insurance is ipso facto a lazy, shiftless, ne’er-do-well, turning the screws on them and making their lives as uncomfortable as possible probably seems like good policy. And what better way to stigmatize and punish poors than by spending more money than would be saved?
Yay, ‘Merica!!!
Except that anyone who’s been on any sort of public assistance KNOWS that being on the dole doesn’t put one on the fast track to champagne wishes and caviar dreams. It’s not going to make the payments on your Maybach, and it isn’t going to keep the pool boy in suntan lotion. It’s a hand UP, not a handout. What Wisconsin Republicans seem to have forgotten, or simply chose not to recognize, is that the social safety net was designed as a bridge. The idea is to get people through a rough patch and see them through until they’re back on their feet. No reasonably well-informed person could believe that the social safety net is a Liberal plot to allow those who won’t work to maintain their lifestyle.
Wisconsin under Scott Walker seems to have devolved into a sort of Koch-fueled Tea Party Paradise in which those who have resent being required to pay into the social safety net for those they KNOW are too lazy to do for themselves. In this worldview, compassion is for losers and Liberals. If you want to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps…well, that’s on you, and you shouldn’t be getting taxpayer assistance to do it.
Sink or swim; it’s the American Way, don’tchaknow??
