Thank you, Denice, excellent. In addition to food, we're also paying for increased medical problems in that population caused by the food we allow them to buy. When I was at San Marcos High School I took Home Ec, despite my counselor telling me I was too smart for that class. It was actually the most educational class about America I took. Our problem with food welfare is immense. The progressives took away the heritage and traditions of nutritious home cooking, no matter how poor a family was, and replaced it with addictive toxic processed food. Bobby, we need MAHA on this!
Polly, I think Home Ec. had the potential to be terrifically valuable in providing training on how to manage our lives, including our personal budgets.
Food is medicine. Home Econ class was indeed beneficial to my life long good health by teaching me what to eat. Public education would improve by its return to pragmatic and vocational class offerings starting in 5th-6th grade. I’d include a financial literacy class too. Too many do not undetstand money, credit, debt, investing, compounded interest; and they vote!
Entitlement expectations and gaming the system seem to be accepted behaviors.
It was so funny to me back in 1969 when I took Home Ec that the class after it was titled “American Problems.” I'd just learned about how to actually use food stamps and solve an American problem. What'd I need the revisionist history class for?
Back in 1974 I went from a secure but boring job during "slow" years to work that paid better but I knew would probably be temporary. But the temporary, job shopping work turned out to be very educational and advantageous for my future. When the temporary work ended while waiting for new work, I applied for and collected unemployment insurance money. I have to admit I did "game the system" for about two years till I got back in the grove of working fulltime again. I used these "unemployment" years to develop a woodworking business to sell stuff at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet, touring the country and restoring old electronics for myself and customers, etc.
Totally agree with you Polly. In school home economics we were also taught other practical things such as sewing, etc. I know our kids are very handy with computers but when push comes to shove....
I raise the necessity of Home Ec classes one level, to my own college level "Biochemistry of Nutrition".
This in-depth course tracked the bio-chemical processes that broke "food" down into its basic molecular components that could eventually pass through the small intestine villi and be absorbed into the blood stream and serve as daily nutritional building block requirements. Indeed, the most valuable and well-used classes I ever took as well.
Quite honestly at that level, the physiological system did not care if the basic nutrient molecule such as a simple sugar came from an organic apple or candy bar. Food lost all original identification at the bio-chemical level
Simple sugars, amino acids, and fatty acid molecules were the only building blocks the body craved and could handle in physiological appropriate amounts. Including the storage of excess amounts and breakdown of the body components itself if missing.
However, proper balance of these buildings blocks, along essential minerals and vitamins as basic components from overall "good nutrition" remains the value found in some form of home economics education, or even 4-H club membership cooking classes.
Sound nutrition education, without the need to delve into what exactly happens at the deep cellular level; fascinating as it is to learn the exquisite, inter-dependent functioning of the human body and any other biological system. And now the inclusion of the micro-biome systems within us all, adds an entirely new and not yet fully explored dimension to nutrition.
In other words, don't mess with a pretty perfect system. And be able to critically evaluate food fads and magical promises for a single nutritional elements that have been part of the human "food culture" for eons. Restaurants evolved as places to "restore" health with what was concluded to be good nutrition at the time.
Most of our human history on this planet has been as hunter-gatherers foraging and migrating to where food could be found. Today, it is found at a 7-11 store that proudly takes EBT cards.
This article says what needs to be said. There are people who truly need help; but the bar has been set so low that our drive and ambition have been deflated. And today, a politician campaigns on increasing benefits. A politician cannot be elected on a platform of reducing benefits, encouraging self-sufficiency, or personal responsibility. Berney
Axiom: Once given, benefits can never be taken away.
Guard against any politician promising to be Lady Bountiful. And not a sharp-penciled green eyeshade accountant who respects these are your tax dollars they will be spending; not OPM used to buy their own future votes.
Excellent article, Denice. The welfare state, which may have begun with intentions of good will, has turned into a nightmare as you have pointed out and has made generations of families dependent on the State. Instead of grateful receivers of benefits we have, with the help of the main stream media and left wing political advocates, a mob of unruly, angry people ready to rob and steal.
Once upon a time families on welfare got food boxes with "Government cheese" and other real staples like eggs and milk. This has morphed now to a funded credit card that can easily observed in any grocery is being used to buy sodas candy and junk food. To curb the obesity epidemic and get America back on track the system needs oversight, MAHA, education and a change in priorities. When farmers dump products because they can't get a fair rate of payment, or leave products unharvested in the fields for lack of labor, there IS plenty of food for every one. The question is who profits by the distribution system that allows ignorant people to go for sugar and addictive chemical-laden drek.
What “SNAP” boils down to is a “Poor Tax” that the rest us must pay on behalf of others. Add on to this, housing in the form of Section 8, health care in the form of Medical and it is substantial to sustain just one person.
Why is it some states require little assistance (Wyoming) 5% of population, compared to states like (New Mexico) which pays for 21% of those needing assistance? Why the disparity? Are people in New Mexico that much more needy? Could it be folks in New Mexico have a higher rate of substance abuse which requires higher need for food subsidies?
Whatever the reason, the American people are good natured and willing to help those needing food, but what is expected in return? Should we expect those requiring assistance to stay off drugs and alcohol? Working in the community in return for food assistance and medical care?
Oh, I get it, this is why Socialism is on the rise, making candidates like Zohran Mamdani so popular?
What we see in reality is too many people who are too lazy or impaired by drugs and alcohol to gain employment in order to support themselves. What a surprise that the overwhelming majority of states requiring assistance are Blue.
Well put, LT. "welfare" needs to be balanced as a two-way street. Charity is something else entirely; which is more freely given when needs are more immediate; and not necessarily only provided by the government sector. Charity is a network of benefits - public and private.
But welfare which has become an institutionalized generational lifestyle, and now regarded even as a "right", must transition back into being an earned and temporary option, with reciprocal benefits offered in return to the providers of those benefits.
Charity is never a right; it just is and the appropriate response is gratitude. Extortion that we just read about a few days ago, "if you don't keep giving us welfare as a right, it is our right to steal as much as we want from anyone and anywhere we choose".
That is 50 shades of appalling and everyone should be ashamed - the fact that we are providing something that has been so soul-destroying rather than being helpful, and that the recipients think they can spit us in the face if they ever stop getting it.
It would be charitable for all concerned to stop their payments immediately and they can go FAFO.
When channel flipping, I caught a CNN commentary going after Trump for his war on stopping drug transportation to the US via the sea. Morons. I flipped the channel. Trump is attempting to save the country of which past Presidents didn't do anything to help.
About 30 years ago, I read a study of high obesity rates within the Latino population. The study compared them to the regions they had emigrated from in Mexico. In the home country, the residents were fit and not obese. And, they were not starving for lack of food. Rather, the Mexicans there prepared home cooked meals, nutritious from locally grown produce and fresh meats. It was concluded that upon entering the US, diets changed to processed and canned. Notice how many folks sustained on SNAP and govt programs live lives of poor health -- and yes, obesity.
Excellent, Denise. Thank you for the history lesson how original good intentions quickly turned into one more bureaucratic, devouring monster. Feeding bureaucracy is the name of the game today, not hunger.
Saul Alinksky also demanded "owning the language" so we have these new nonsense terms - "hunger insecurity", "food deserts", "fair share", "tax the rich", " food is a human right". All of which drive only more demands for arbitrary wealth redistribution by fiat, in order to support this voracious new "hunger bureaucracy" which in perverse irony is dedicated to only growing the underlying problem itself and never solving it.
Two free meals a day year round for school kids only adds to this over-dependency on taxpayers to fund this one single outcome - free food for everyone (D). Instead of teaching fundamental basic home economics in junior high, and destroying the long-standing work ethic that exhorted if you don't work, you do not eat.
LBJ, when the history of America is written well into in the future will go down as the most destructive President of all: (1) Vietnam War; (2) The Great Society; (3) the uncontrolled growth of the deep state, unelected fourth branch of government and the power of the government employee unions post 1962, when first permitted by his predecessor JFK.
Ms. Adams: Thank you for your excellent, thorough, well-articulated analysis of this current out-of-control problem. Hopefully we'll see some improvement in the system. As Speaker Newt Gingrich once said: "Give people a hand up and not a hand out."
As Elon indicated yesterday on Joe Rogan, this is all part of the massive Democrat voter fraud scheme. If you turn off free food illegals will quit coming and many here will leave reducing Democrats ability to sway elections particularly as illegals have anchor babies which become automatic US citizens and grow up to vote ostensibly for the Democrats who give them free things, are soft on crime,and make voter ID illegal ( at least in CA). We are close to, or maybe at, the tipping point and Dems know it. That is why the ENTIRE Dem shutdown focus is on SNAP. Follow the money. Always.
I was under the impression that trump’s wall, and his ICE storm troopers had taken care of all the “illegals. Although they continue to disappear people off the street, drag people out of their homes, out of their places of work, and schools. Do you really think that if the Democrats had 20 million illegal immigrants here and they all illegally voted, do you think taco would be in power?
As for the Republican Shutdown, the reason is because the trump family crime syndicate administration has no compassion or generosity in their souls. All the Democrats are asking for is that the Affordable Care Act subsides stay in place and that insurance premiums won’t go sky high. Republicans love to lie and make up facts, because they know their supporters usually only listen to Fox News and don’t bother to do their own research.
trumps country is in turmoil, but trump doesn’t see it because his only concern is the problems billionaires might have. He has been traveling the world, taking an Asian tour, receiving gifts, or bribes might be a better description. I wonder if he realizes that he can’t keep anything given to the president with the value of over $480? We all know he’s going to try and keep everything that was presented to him as president. I don’t know why we have a Secretary of State. Marco Rubio could be handling a lot of these out of country issues or visits, but taco likes being the center of attention as we all know. He really doesn’t like governing, It’s the power and attention that he craves.
I so pray someone does start following the money, so we could find out how this president made billions and billions in not even being a year in office. The corporations that have been bribing him also need to be looked at, along with companies that have been presented contracts by this administration.
Hey Jules, you surprise me. I would’ve thought you be hitting a “40” in celebration of the Dodgers! But no, you’re here with us, talking smack about the most successful president in history!
In my observation the illegals are not non-working, they are just paid in cash in the "underground economy" thus allowing their families to collect all the SNAP and welfare, free education and medical. That's how they can afford the massive amounts of money wired South back to Mexico that props up that economy. Native born Americans on the welfare treadmill are the ones non-working, dependent on the largess of the State.
Denise, thanks for providing so many statistics. If it is true that 54% of SNAP users are illegal immigrants it illustrates why after Biden-Harris flooded the country with millions of unvetted people that so many problems have escalated. We are only 4.4% of the world's population: how many of the "other" 95.6% do the democrats want us to support?
Because illegals for the most part have no paperwork trail to support their income claims, they have learned to game the system by making their own unverified statements to ensure they fall under the proper threshold limits in order to obtain these "food insecurity" benefits.
Just yesterday there was an article doing the math and found illegals lying to get benefits qualified for $30,000 more in annual benefits than someone who had legal status and was required to submit the proper paper work.
Brent, based on recent research by Politifact, it is NOT true that 54% of SNAP users are illegal immigrants;
“The most recently published U.S. Agriculture Department data shows that as of 2023, the largest group of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients by race was white (35.4%), followed by African American (25.7%), Hispanic (15.6%), Asian (3.9%), Native American (1.3%).
The agency also reported that 89.4% of SNAP recipients were U.S born citizens, meaning less than 11% of SNAP participants were foreign-born.”
PS: Depends on what source you are reading and the fact these benefits are handed out with NO verification requirement for illegals, who have no paperwork to support their claims.
Since you can only track what you can track, Politifact is garbage in, garbage out for intentional partisan effect. Just like government statistics showing "crime rates dropping" because they dropped what they called a crime.
The more people eating on the governments dime equals more people voting for Democrats and the politicians know it.
Liberal women don’t want to “take food from the baby’s mouths“ and therefore vote Democrat. This is why the last decade or so has been spent trying to turn young men into young girls/women. Toxic masculinity? The left has no scruples or morality left . Their motto is “whatever it takes to hold onto power“
We would be remiss if we didn't mention the biggest govt handout by far and that is social security and Medicare. The vacuum sound is the boomer generation sucking more money out of the system than everyone else combined. We have an entitlement spending problem and it is not going to get better until the boomers (the richest generation by far) decide to make some sacrifices. I know the blowback I am going to get from our senior citizens is that social security is not a welfare program. But let's not engage in fairy tales: most seniors get way more money out of social security than what they put into it.
Denice, well done. A reminder that a welfare state inevitably becomes untenable, because the number of recipients of government-funded welfare always grows and what was intended as a helping hand becomes increasingly a permanent right. Over time, these rights to benefits become expanded and cannot be easily repealed. Illegal immigration only adds to the number of beneficiaries. We see this now in Britain, where political promises by the Labour party to get elected, cannot be met without more permanent borrowing, or raising taxes.
Government benefits are by no means the causes of government financial risk. But they can become the flashpoint of future issues when the debt triggers government cuts on expenditures
I don't know the potential remedies that are politically possible, but America is in a risky position.
We are now $38 trillion in actual debt that is increasing at a rate of almost $2 trillion a year. Our debt to GDP ratio is now 120.68%, which means the economic growth is at least 20.68% less than the growth of national debt. Annual interest of the debt is just under $1trillion a year.
The US population is 342,396,346. The number of federal income tax returns is 113, 415,967. The amount of the national debt per taxpayer is $327,508. The national debt for every US citizen is $110,726. But this is not static debt. Every year, these numbers increase. At some point, the magnitude will force drastic actions to defend the US dollar.
The last time we were in safe territory was around the year 2000 when the debt to GDP ratio was 55.55%. In 25 years, successive governments have spent our way towards a debt crisis.
I agree with some of this, but the key point for me is that the government's economic and employment statistics are never true, because a couple of decades ago they changed the definition of "unemployed" to no longer include people who had either run out of unemployment benefits OR given up trying to find a job. Are there cheaters in the current system? Yes. But should we throw out the system and let some people die in the meantime? NO.
Many people have become aware of how many people are on Food Stamps at the moment and how much the Federal government is spending to support it.
I understand about 52% of the recipients are illegal and the rest are children,seniors and adults.
The BBB bill effective today will add work or volunteer requirements to be able to continue benefits. They can also be searching for a job. Unemployment has the same requirements.
As we go down this path,and people and charities are offering to support families,I'm wondering if it should be up omto the states to provide these benefits going forward.
Many companies are heavily reliant on EBT benefits,Amazon,Target and Walmart. Will they step up and fight to reopen the government?
Take a scroll through Amazon and see what can purchases with these benefits. It's things other than food.
Social Media has show us that many are able bodies individuals that can get work and are just living off the system and they know how to manipulate it.
Schools now give free lunches and breakfast also.
I believe that there are plenty of jobs and well paying,McDonald's pays $20 and hour and Hotel workers get $30 and hour,available. It could get families off Food Stamps and or continue their benefits. In addition they would be paying taxes to support these programs.
So it’s closer to 89% of SNAP recipients are born in the US, the other 11% are legal immigrants, asylum seekers, or permanent resident status. People in the country illegally do not qualify for these benefits.
I am wondering where you read that 52% of recipients are here illegally? That sounds unbelievable so I’d like to learn more. Do you have a source? I’ve spent time looking online for one but have been unable to find anything matching that information.
Not every state has free breakfast and lunch for schools—California does, but there are plenty that don’t.
The wages you reference seem to be California-specific. Even then, $20 an hour is about $41k per year full time, before taxes. McDonald’s workers in Louisiana or Alabama are not making that amount generally.
I can search for that for you just or is online regarding who the recipients are of Food Stamps.
Getting a job doesn't mean it'll pay for all your expenses but it can get you off of Food Stamps and it is now a requirement of SNAP beneficiariea, starting today, to show proof of work,proof of volunteer work and or job searches.
If they do not woke than the benefits will be greatly reduces to 3 months of benefits in a 36 month period.
Age is up to 62 years for those requirements,able bodied and those with dependents over 14 years old.
Thank you for a reply that didn’t involve name calling and provided information! I appreciate the respectful response.
The website you provided states that “17% of illegal immigrant households utilize SNAP”. So they aren’t 17% percent of the population receiving snap. Also, the wording makes it sound like while an adult or head of the household may be here illegally, the children who are citizens are the ones receiving the benefits? Not sure I’m interpreting the statistics correctly. Is this the same take that you have?
Also, a lot of people on snap are elderly, disabled, caring for disabled family members, or are children. Does the work requirement apply to them as well? Thank you again for the information and discussion. I appreciate learning more and being able to have conversations.
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New SNAP restrictions go into place amid shutdown drama
by Ryan Mancini - 11/01/25 4:09 PM ET
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New Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rules are going into effect on Saturday, even as benefits will already not be issued through November without federal funding due to the government shutdown.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) website, where millions of Americans can review their options and apply, details how “the well has run dry” to issue program benefits. Atop the page, the USDA blames Senate Democrats for benefits not being issued starting Saturday.
“Senate Democrats have now voted 13 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” the page reads. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”
While SNAP benefits will not be issued until funding continues, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act also places new restrictions into effect starting Saturday. These changes are expected to push some people out of the program after an estimated $186 billion federal spending cut over the next decade.
Able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) could see the biggest change in needing to prove they work at least 80 hours a month, are pursuing an education or are in a training program to remain qualified for SNAP. Should they not have proof, they will receive SNAP benefits for a total of three months maximum.
Additionally, any able adults under 65 must prove they are working to continue receiving benefits. Parents with dependents under 14 are now exempt from the work requirements, whereas before it applied to parents with dependents under 18 years old. Young adults, veterans and homeless people must now meet work requirements to receive over three months of benefits.
Another change in effect will impact “non-citizen eligibility for SNAP” for immigrants, including non-citizen U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants and those who are undocumented.
Able bodies individual means able to work. So if you're disabled then probably not. It's up to age 62 and older Seniors aren't required to show proof of work.
I will research the new Requirements and post here for you.
Ah! Thank you for the clarification on the work requirement aspect.
Interesting! The comments on that video make some points about the interpretation/manipulation of statistics. And that the countries they are highlighting are countries that had refugee status too? When trying to research and find information there are so many sources and ways it is presented that it sometimes feels hard to get an honest sense of the actual facts. Your type of thoughtful engagement is why I continue to read this publication.
Thanks for the education, Denice. I had never heard of SNAP until recently. To prevent SNAP dependents turning things into the sound of BANGS of gun fire, SNAP needs to be remedied ASAP. Our incompetent government let China take millions of our jobs away in the USA. In return, we received cheap so-so products in return; plus, our taxes have increased to feed our massive unemployed. What a mess!
Thank you, Denice, excellent. In addition to food, we're also paying for increased medical problems in that population caused by the food we allow them to buy. When I was at San Marcos High School I took Home Ec, despite my counselor telling me I was too smart for that class. It was actually the most educational class about America I took. Our problem with food welfare is immense. The progressives took away the heritage and traditions of nutritious home cooking, no matter how poor a family was, and replaced it with addictive toxic processed food. Bobby, we need MAHA on this!
Polly, I think Home Ec. had the potential to be terrifically valuable in providing training on how to manage our lives, including our personal budgets.
Agree.
Food is medicine. Home Econ class was indeed beneficial to my life long good health by teaching me what to eat. Public education would improve by its return to pragmatic and vocational class offerings starting in 5th-6th grade. I’d include a financial literacy class too. Too many do not undetstand money, credit, debt, investing, compounded interest; and they vote!
Entitlement expectations and gaming the system seem to be accepted behaviors.
It was so funny to me back in 1969 when I took Home Ec that the class after it was titled “American Problems.” I'd just learned about how to actually use food stamps and solve an American problem. What'd I need the revisionist history class for?
Back in 1974 I went from a secure but boring job during "slow" years to work that paid better but I knew would probably be temporary. But the temporary, job shopping work turned out to be very educational and advantageous for my future. When the temporary work ended while waiting for new work, I applied for and collected unemployment insurance money. I have to admit I did "game the system" for about two years till I got back in the grove of working fulltime again. I used these "unemployment" years to develop a woodworking business to sell stuff at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet, touring the country and restoring old electronics for myself and customers, etc.
Totally agree with you Polly. In school home economics we were also taught other practical things such as sewing, etc. I know our kids are very handy with computers but when push comes to shove....
Yes, sewing! I make Ray's Hawaiian shirts. I made my mom's late life clothes. I neglect my own wardrobe, alas.
I raise the necessity of Home Ec classes one level, to my own college level "Biochemistry of Nutrition".
This in-depth course tracked the bio-chemical processes that broke "food" down into its basic molecular components that could eventually pass through the small intestine villi and be absorbed into the blood stream and serve as daily nutritional building block requirements. Indeed, the most valuable and well-used classes I ever took as well.
Quite honestly at that level, the physiological system did not care if the basic nutrient molecule such as a simple sugar came from an organic apple or candy bar. Food lost all original identification at the bio-chemical level
Simple sugars, amino acids, and fatty acid molecules were the only building blocks the body craved and could handle in physiological appropriate amounts. Including the storage of excess amounts and breakdown of the body components itself if missing.
However, proper balance of these buildings blocks, along essential minerals and vitamins as basic components from overall "good nutrition" remains the value found in some form of home economics education, or even 4-H club membership cooking classes.
Sound nutrition education, without the need to delve into what exactly happens at the deep cellular level; fascinating as it is to learn the exquisite, inter-dependent functioning of the human body and any other biological system. And now the inclusion of the micro-biome systems within us all, adds an entirely new and not yet fully explored dimension to nutrition.
In other words, don't mess with a pretty perfect system. And be able to critically evaluate food fads and magical promises for a single nutritional elements that have been part of the human "food culture" for eons. Restaurants evolved as places to "restore" health with what was concluded to be good nutrition at the time.
Most of our human history on this planet has been as hunter-gatherers foraging and migrating to where food could be found. Today, it is found at a 7-11 store that proudly takes EBT cards.
This article says what needs to be said. There are people who truly need help; but the bar has been set so low that our drive and ambition have been deflated. And today, a politician campaigns on increasing benefits. A politician cannot be elected on a platform of reducing benefits, encouraging self-sufficiency, or personal responsibility. Berney
Axiom: Once given, benefits can never be taken away.
Guard against any politician promising to be Lady Bountiful. And not a sharp-penciled green eyeshade accountant who respects these are your tax dollars they will be spending; not OPM used to buy their own future votes.
Excellent article, Denice. The welfare state, which may have begun with intentions of good will, has turned into a nightmare as you have pointed out and has made generations of families dependent on the State. Instead of grateful receivers of benefits we have, with the help of the main stream media and left wing political advocates, a mob of unruly, angry people ready to rob and steal.
Once upon a time families on welfare got food boxes with "Government cheese" and other real staples like eggs and milk. This has morphed now to a funded credit card that can easily observed in any grocery is being used to buy sodas candy and junk food. To curb the obesity epidemic and get America back on track the system needs oversight, MAHA, education and a change in priorities. When farmers dump products because they can't get a fair rate of payment, or leave products unharvested in the fields for lack of labor, there IS plenty of food for every one. The question is who profits by the distribution system that allows ignorant people to go for sugar and addictive chemical-laden drek.
What “SNAP” boils down to is a “Poor Tax” that the rest us must pay on behalf of others. Add on to this, housing in the form of Section 8, health care in the form of Medical and it is substantial to sustain just one person.
Why is it some states require little assistance (Wyoming) 5% of population, compared to states like (New Mexico) which pays for 21% of those needing assistance? Why the disparity? Are people in New Mexico that much more needy? Could it be folks in New Mexico have a higher rate of substance abuse which requires higher need for food subsidies?
Whatever the reason, the American people are good natured and willing to help those needing food, but what is expected in return? Should we expect those requiring assistance to stay off drugs and alcohol? Working in the community in return for food assistance and medical care?
Oh, I get it, this is why Socialism is on the rise, making candidates like Zohran Mamdani so popular?
What we see in reality is too many people who are too lazy or impaired by drugs and alcohol to gain employment in order to support themselves. What a surprise that the overwhelming majority of states requiring assistance are Blue.
https://www.newsweek.com/map-states-rely-food-stamps-most-snap-funding-expires-10942866
Well put, LT. "welfare" needs to be balanced as a two-way street. Charity is something else entirely; which is more freely given when needs are more immediate; and not necessarily only provided by the government sector. Charity is a network of benefits - public and private.
But welfare which has become an institutionalized generational lifestyle, and now regarded even as a "right", must transition back into being an earned and temporary option, with reciprocal benefits offered in return to the providers of those benefits.
Charity is never a right; it just is and the appropriate response is gratitude. Extortion that we just read about a few days ago, "if you don't keep giving us welfare as a right, it is our right to steal as much as we want from anyone and anywhere we choose".
That is 50 shades of appalling and everyone should be ashamed - the fact that we are providing something that has been so soul-destroying rather than being helpful, and that the recipients think they can spit us in the face if they ever stop getting it.
It would be charitable for all concerned to stop their payments immediately and they can go FAFO.
When channel flipping, I caught a CNN commentary going after Trump for his war on stopping drug transportation to the US via the sea. Morons. I flipped the channel. Trump is attempting to save the country of which past Presidents didn't do anything to help.
About 30 years ago, I read a study of high obesity rates within the Latino population. The study compared them to the regions they had emigrated from in Mexico. In the home country, the residents were fit and not obese. And, they were not starving for lack of food. Rather, the Mexicans there prepared home cooked meals, nutritious from locally grown produce and fresh meats. It was concluded that upon entering the US, diets changed to processed and canned. Notice how many folks sustained on SNAP and govt programs live lives of poor health -- and yes, obesity.
I was watching the Dodgers last night and the pitcher for Toronto really reminded me of You Know Who!. . . (he's on the city council)
They both forgot to shave.
Excellent, Denise. Thank you for the history lesson how original good intentions quickly turned into one more bureaucratic, devouring monster. Feeding bureaucracy is the name of the game today, not hunger.
Saul Alinksky also demanded "owning the language" so we have these new nonsense terms - "hunger insecurity", "food deserts", "fair share", "tax the rich", " food is a human right". All of which drive only more demands for arbitrary wealth redistribution by fiat, in order to support this voracious new "hunger bureaucracy" which in perverse irony is dedicated to only growing the underlying problem itself and never solving it.
Two free meals a day year round for school kids only adds to this over-dependency on taxpayers to fund this one single outcome - free food for everyone (D). Instead of teaching fundamental basic home economics in junior high, and destroying the long-standing work ethic that exhorted if you don't work, you do not eat.
LBJ, when the history of America is written well into in the future will go down as the most destructive President of all: (1) Vietnam War; (2) The Great Society; (3) the uncontrolled growth of the deep state, unelected fourth branch of government and the power of the government employee unions post 1962, when first permitted by his predecessor JFK.
Ms. Adams: Thank you for your excellent, thorough, well-articulated analysis of this current out-of-control problem. Hopefully we'll see some improvement in the system. As Speaker Newt Gingrich once said: "Give people a hand up and not a hand out."
As Elon indicated yesterday on Joe Rogan, this is all part of the massive Democrat voter fraud scheme. If you turn off free food illegals will quit coming and many here will leave reducing Democrats ability to sway elections particularly as illegals have anchor babies which become automatic US citizens and grow up to vote ostensibly for the Democrats who give them free things, are soft on crime,and make voter ID illegal ( at least in CA). We are close to, or maybe at, the tipping point and Dems know it. That is why the ENTIRE Dem shutdown focus is on SNAP. Follow the money. Always.
I hope I'm not the only reader to spot the irony of your mentioning Elon Musk and the phrase "follow the money" in the same paragraph.
I was unaware that Elon was part of the Democrat illegal voter scheme. Please enlighten us election loser. 😂
I was under the impression that trump’s wall, and his ICE storm troopers had taken care of all the “illegals. Although they continue to disappear people off the street, drag people out of their homes, out of their places of work, and schools. Do you really think that if the Democrats had 20 million illegal immigrants here and they all illegally voted, do you think taco would be in power?
As for the Republican Shutdown, the reason is because the trump family crime syndicate administration has no compassion or generosity in their souls. All the Democrats are asking for is that the Affordable Care Act subsides stay in place and that insurance premiums won’t go sky high. Republicans love to lie and make up facts, because they know their supporters usually only listen to Fox News and don’t bother to do their own research.
trumps country is in turmoil, but trump doesn’t see it because his only concern is the problems billionaires might have. He has been traveling the world, taking an Asian tour, receiving gifts, or bribes might be a better description. I wonder if he realizes that he can’t keep anything given to the president with the value of over $480? We all know he’s going to try and keep everything that was presented to him as president. I don’t know why we have a Secretary of State. Marco Rubio could be handling a lot of these out of country issues or visits, but taco likes being the center of attention as we all know. He really doesn’t like governing, It’s the power and attention that he craves.
I so pray someone does start following the money, so we could find out how this president made billions and billions in not even being a year in office. The corporations that have been bribing him also need to be looked at, along with companies that have been presented contracts by this administration.
Hey Jules, you surprise me. I would’ve thought you be hitting a “40” in celebration of the Dodgers! But no, you’re here with us, talking smack about the most successful president in history!
The Dems work hard to establish socialism in the country by using the taxpayers to pay for the support of nonworking illegals receiving free handouts.
In my observation the illegals are not non-working, they are just paid in cash in the "underground economy" thus allowing their families to collect all the SNAP and welfare, free education and medical. That's how they can afford the massive amounts of money wired South back to Mexico that props up that economy. Native born Americans on the welfare treadmill are the ones non-working, dependent on the largess of the State.
Denise, thanks for providing so many statistics. If it is true that 54% of SNAP users are illegal immigrants it illustrates why after Biden-Harris flooded the country with millions of unvetted people that so many problems have escalated. We are only 4.4% of the world's population: how many of the "other" 95.6% do the democrats want us to support?
Because illegals for the most part have no paperwork trail to support their income claims, they have learned to game the system by making their own unverified statements to ensure they fall under the proper threshold limits in order to obtain these "food insecurity" benefits.
Just yesterday there was an article doing the math and found illegals lying to get benefits qualified for $30,000 more in annual benefits than someone who had legal status and was required to submit the proper paper work.
Brent, based on recent research by Politifact, it is NOT true that 54% of SNAP users are illegal immigrants;
“The most recently published U.S. Agriculture Department data shows that as of 2023, the largest group of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients by race was white (35.4%), followed by African American (25.7%), Hispanic (15.6%), Asian (3.9%), Native American (1.3%).
The agency also reported that 89.4% of SNAP recipients were U.S born citizens, meaning less than 11% of SNAP participants were foreign-born.”
PS: Depends on what source you are reading and the fact these benefits are handed out with NO verification requirement for illegals, who have no paperwork to support their claims.
Since you can only track what you can track, Politifact is garbage in, garbage out for intentional partisan effect. Just like government statistics showing "crime rates dropping" because they dropped what they called a crime.
So you’re saying that it’s OK for taxpayers to be paying ONLY $9 billion a year to support non-citizens. Do I have that right?
The more people eating on the governments dime equals more people voting for Democrats and the politicians know it.
Liberal women don’t want to “take food from the baby’s mouths“ and therefore vote Democrat. This is why the last decade or so has been spent trying to turn young men into young girls/women. Toxic masculinity? The left has no scruples or morality left . Their motto is “whatever it takes to hold onto power“
We would be remiss if we didn't mention the biggest govt handout by far and that is social security and Medicare. The vacuum sound is the boomer generation sucking more money out of the system than everyone else combined. We have an entitlement spending problem and it is not going to get better until the boomers (the richest generation by far) decide to make some sacrifices. I know the blowback I am going to get from our senior citizens is that social security is not a welfare program. But let's not engage in fairy tales: most seniors get way more money out of social security than what they put into it.
Denice, well done. A reminder that a welfare state inevitably becomes untenable, because the number of recipients of government-funded welfare always grows and what was intended as a helping hand becomes increasingly a permanent right. Over time, these rights to benefits become expanded and cannot be easily repealed. Illegal immigration only adds to the number of beneficiaries. We see this now in Britain, where political promises by the Labour party to get elected, cannot be met without more permanent borrowing, or raising taxes.
Government benefits are by no means the causes of government financial risk. But they can become the flashpoint of future issues when the debt triggers government cuts on expenditures
I don't know the potential remedies that are politically possible, but America is in a risky position.
We are now $38 trillion in actual debt that is increasing at a rate of almost $2 trillion a year. Our debt to GDP ratio is now 120.68%, which means the economic growth is at least 20.68% less than the growth of national debt. Annual interest of the debt is just under $1trillion a year.
The US population is 342,396,346. The number of federal income tax returns is 113, 415,967. The amount of the national debt per taxpayer is $327,508. The national debt for every US citizen is $110,726. But this is not static debt. Every year, these numbers increase. At some point, the magnitude will force drastic actions to defend the US dollar.
The last time we were in safe territory was around the year 2000 when the debt to GDP ratio was 55.55%. In 25 years, successive governments have spent our way towards a debt crisis.
I agree with some of this, but the key point for me is that the government's economic and employment statistics are never true, because a couple of decades ago they changed the definition of "unemployed" to no longer include people who had either run out of unemployment benefits OR given up trying to find a job. Are there cheaters in the current system? Yes. But should we throw out the system and let some people die in the meantime? NO.
Thank you Denise for this article.
Many people have become aware of how many people are on Food Stamps at the moment and how much the Federal government is spending to support it.
I understand about 52% of the recipients are illegal and the rest are children,seniors and adults.
The BBB bill effective today will add work or volunteer requirements to be able to continue benefits. They can also be searching for a job. Unemployment has the same requirements.
As we go down this path,and people and charities are offering to support families,I'm wondering if it should be up omto the states to provide these benefits going forward.
Many companies are heavily reliant on EBT benefits,Amazon,Target and Walmart. Will they step up and fight to reopen the government?
Take a scroll through Amazon and see what can purchases with these benefits. It's things other than food.
Social Media has show us that many are able bodies individuals that can get work and are just living off the system and they know how to manipulate it.
Schools now give free lunches and breakfast also.
I believe that there are plenty of jobs and well paying,McDonald's pays $20 and hour and Hotel workers get $30 and hour,available. It could get families off Food Stamps and or continue their benefits. In addition they would be paying taxes to support these programs.
So it’s closer to 89% of SNAP recipients are born in the US, the other 11% are legal immigrants, asylum seekers, or permanent resident status. People in the country illegally do not qualify for these benefits.
I am wondering where you read that 52% of recipients are here illegally? That sounds unbelievable so I’d like to learn more. Do you have a source? I’ve spent time looking online for one but have been unable to find anything matching that information.
Not every state has free breakfast and lunch for schools—California does, but there are plenty that don’t.
The wages you reference seem to be California-specific. Even then, $20 an hour is about $41k per year full time, before taxes. McDonald’s workers in Louisiana or Alabama are not making that amount generally.
https://cis.org/Camarota/Illegal-Immigrants-Be-Hit-Hard-SNAP-and-WIC-Benefits-Expire
I can search for that for you just or is online regarding who the recipients are of Food Stamps.
Getting a job doesn't mean it'll pay for all your expenses but it can get you off of Food Stamps and it is now a requirement of SNAP beneficiariea, starting today, to show proof of work,proof of volunteer work and or job searches.
If they do not woke than the benefits will be greatly reduces to 3 months of benefits in a 36 month period.
Age is up to 62 years for those requirements,able bodied and those with dependents over 14 years old.
Thank you for a reply that didn’t involve name calling and provided information! I appreciate the respectful response.
The website you provided states that “17% of illegal immigrant households utilize SNAP”. So they aren’t 17% percent of the population receiving snap. Also, the wording makes it sound like while an adult or head of the household may be here illegally, the children who are citizens are the ones receiving the benefits? Not sure I’m interpreting the statistics correctly. Is this the same take that you have?
Also, a lot of people on snap are elderly, disabled, caring for disabled family members, or are children. Does the work requirement apply to them as well? Thank you again for the information and discussion. I appreciate learning more and being able to have conversations.
TheHill.com
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New SNAP restrictions go into place amid shutdown drama
by Ryan Mancini - 11/01/25 4:09 PM ET
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New Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rules are going into effect on Saturday, even as benefits will already not be issued through November without federal funding due to the government shutdown.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) website, where millions of Americans can review their options and apply, details how “the well has run dry” to issue program benefits. Atop the page, the USDA blames Senate Democrats for benefits not being issued starting Saturday.
“Senate Democrats have now voted 13 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” the page reads. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”
While SNAP benefits will not be issued until funding continues, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act also places new restrictions into effect starting Saturday. These changes are expected to push some people out of the program after an estimated $186 billion federal spending cut over the next decade.
Able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) could see the biggest change in needing to prove they work at least 80 hours a month, are pursuing an education or are in a training program to remain qualified for SNAP. Should they not have proof, they will receive SNAP benefits for a total of three months maximum.
Additionally, any able adults under 65 must prove they are working to continue receiving benefits. Parents with dependents under 14 are now exempt from the work requirements, whereas before it applied to parents with dependents under 18 years old. Young adults, veterans and homeless people must now meet work requirements to receive over three months of benefits.
Another change in effect will impact “non-citizen eligibility for SNAP” for immigrants, including non-citizen U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants and those who are undocumented.
Able bodies individual means able to work. So if you're disabled then probably not. It's up to age 62 and older Seniors aren't required to show proof of work.
I will research the new Requirements and post here for you.
https://x.com/iAnonPatriot/status/1983251931549344109.
Ah! Thank you for the clarification on the work requirement aspect.
Interesting! The comments on that video make some points about the interpretation/manipulation of statistics. And that the countries they are highlighting are countries that had refugee status too? When trying to research and find information there are so many sources and ways it is presented that it sometimes feels hard to get an honest sense of the actual facts. Your type of thoughtful engagement is why I continue to read this publication.
I appreciate that.
Thanks for the education, Denice. I had never heard of SNAP until recently. To prevent SNAP dependents turning things into the sound of BANGS of gun fire, SNAP needs to be remedied ASAP. Our incompetent government let China take millions of our jobs away in the USA. In return, we received cheap so-so products in return; plus, our taxes have increased to feed our massive unemployed. What a mess!