The Food Stamp President
21st August 2011
Read it.
The Obama administration has chosen a Friday afternoon in the summer to put out the news that it is refusing New York City’s request to prevent food stamp recipients in the city from using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to pay for soda or other sugary drinks. So if you are poor enough for food stamps – which are subject to only an income test, not an asset test — you have a federal entitlement to spend the vouchers on full-calorie Coca-Cola or Pepsi.
‘I want to go to America. I want to see a country where the poor people are fat.’
Again, as a general matter, I don’t think government should tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t eat or drink, and for those reasons I’ve opposed proposed taxes aimed at sugary beverages. But if food stamps are really a Nutritional Assistance program, it’s not really clear to me how Coke and Pepsi fit into that.
Better not tell Michelle.