According to his Congressional offices, Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) will take the SNAP Challenge next week, limiting himself to $4.50 per day for food. This is the average daily benefit for a recipient of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as “food stamps.”
Huffman will participate in the SNAP Challenge for five days, starting Monday, June 17 and will keep a record on Twitter and Facebook.
It's only appropriate that he do so. While he was running for the Congressional seat in mid-2012, one of his key opponents in the primary was the progressive Norman Solomon. Solomon undertook the same test, the so called “food stamp diet,” to see what he could eat based on the government allocated $4.50 a day.
Find out what's happening in Healdsburgfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Apparently now it's a good idea for Rep. Huffman to try the diet, too. “SNAP is a lifeline for millions of Americans families who cannot afford to eat without this modest assistance,” Congressman Huffman said. “That’s why the proposal by House Republican Leadership to slash funding for SNAP is so unconscionable.”
His spare diet coincides with consideration of the House Farm Bill, authored by Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK), which cuts $20 billion from SNAP. This bill will eliminate food assistance to nearly two million low-income Americans, and shuts 210,000 children out of free or reduced-cost school meals.
Find out what's happening in Healdsburgfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Nearly 75% of the country's 47 million SNAP recipients are families with children, and more than a quarter of SNAP recipients are households with seniors or people with disabilities. Under the House Farm Bill, 850,000 households would lose an average of $90—nearly a full week’s worth of groceries—per month.
A provision in the bill would cause many working households to lose all their SNAP benefits simply because they own a car. For many families on the North Coast, a car isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity for families who commute to work.
“We need Congress to understand what these cruel austerity measures mean on a personal level rather than a generic statistical sample, which is why I’m learning what it means to live off of the average SNAP recipient’s $4.50 a day,” said Rep. Huffman.
Could you live off $4.50 a day? Do you?
