{"id":19515,"date":"2013-10-28T22:59:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T02:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=19515"},"modified":"2013-10-28T22:59:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-29T02:59:26","slug":"riots-always-begin-typically-the-same-way-food-stamp-shutdown-looms-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2013\/10\/riots-always-begin-typically-the-same-way-food-stamp-shutdown-looms-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRiots always begin typically the same way\u201d: Food stamp shutdown looms Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Credit:<\/a>
(Credit: AP\/Marcio Jose Sanchez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The head of the largest food bank says the $5 billion annual cut will take a week of meals off millions’ plates<\/span><\/h2>\n

BY<\/span>\u00a0JOSH EIDELSON<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Food stamp recipients face a massive benefit cut set to kick in when stimulus funds expire Friday. The nationwide cut \u201cis equivalent to about 16 meals a month for a family of three,\u201d according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities<\/span>\u00a0analysis<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0using the USDA\u2019s \u201cThrifty Food Plan.\u201d CBPP called the roughly $5 billion annual cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program \u201cunprecedented\u201d in \u201cdepth and breadth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look across the world, riots always begin typically the same way: when people cannot afford to eat food,\u201d Margarette Purvis, the president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, told Salon Monday. Purvis said that the looming cut would mean about 76 million meals \u201cthat will no longer be on the plates of the poorest families\u201d in NYC alone \u2013 a figure that outstrips the total number of meals distributed each year by the Food Bank for New York City, the largest food bank in the country. \u201cThere will be an immediate impact,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that they\u2019re going to lose what\u2019s basically an entire week\u2019s worth food\u201d each month, said Purvis, \u201cit\u2019s pretty daunting.\u201d She told Salon that while policymakers \u201care attempting to punish people for being poor,\u201d and \u201cpeople are comforted by believing that they know that a person has to have done something wrong in order to be poor,\u201d in reality, \u201cI can tell you that more and more folks have more than one job and are still needing help.\u201d (As I<\/span>\u00a0reported<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0last week, audio recorded by a McDonald\u2019s worker-activist showed a counselor on an employee hotline encouraging her to sign up for food stamps because it \u201ctakes a lot of the pressure off how much money you spend on groceries.\u201d) Purvis added that cutting food stamps was \u201cnot even good business sense,\u201d because each dollar of food stamps infuses over $1.70 of spending into the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all told that these cuts for November 1 would not happen,\u201d said Purvis.<\/strong>\u00a0When \u201cthey decided they were going to take from some of the increases to food stamps\u201d to fund First Lady Michelle Obama\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Move\u201d program, she told Salon, \u201cWe were told, you know, by the president\u2026these cuts will not happen, we won\u2019t get rid of the program. Well guess what? November 1 is around the corner, and no one has restored that money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some prominent conservatives have questioned the significance of public assistance cuts for the poor.\u00a0Weekly Standard<\/em>\u00a0Editor Bill Kistol<\/span>\u00a0contended<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0during the government shutdown that \u201cit\u2019s not going to be the end of the world, honestly, even if you\u2019re on nutritional assistance from the federal government. The state of Arkansas can help out, localities can help out, churches can help out, I believe no one is going to starve in Arkansas because of the shutdown.\u201d Asked about such claims, Purvis said that citing the efforts of groups like hers as a reason not to worry about public assistance cuts was \u201cone of the most ill-informed arguments on the planet.\u201d She told Salon, \u201cthe first line of defense against hunger is a food stamp.\u201d While some \u201chave had this way of romanticizing charity,\u201d she said, \u201ccharity is also a system that is based on capacity and resources.\u201d Purvis added that politicians \u201cdidn\u2019t make any additional resources available to these magical charities that they expect to step in for this devastation that\u2019s geared at the poorest of Americans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Purvis said she and her colleagues are \u201cbegging\u201d Congress to pass legislation by December to restore the expired funds. Rather than \u201ctrying to raise a dollar\u201d to avert disaster privately, she said, a solution will require Americans to \u201craise their voices,\u201d because \u201cthe avenue has to be activism.\u201d In the meantime, she predicted \u201ca very tough Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuente<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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