The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

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Recommended: Essays on food insecurities

It is a common assumption that food insecurity negatively affects the food insecure, but how should a food secure individual react when someone else’s food insecurity negatively affects their personal experiences? Phion is a blogger whose concerns reflect the American sentiment about the entitlements of food stamp users. Phion recounts a recent trip that he and his wife took to Sam’s Club where they were stuck in line behind a woman with “two full shopping carts full of racks of ribs, tenderloins, pork chops, soda, a ton of junk food, ribeyes, and a tons of other stuff totaling out to over $800. And she paid with her EBT card [a type of debit like card for food stamp recipients].” This encounter left Phion in a state of anger and disbelief. He couldn’t reconcile how he and his wife were struggling to save money in order to plan for life expansions (i.e. home ownership, children, ect.), while this woman was shopping to feed a king and his court on taxpayer dollars. In deep frustration and envy, Phion imagines a reality in which he could afford to buy top dollar food with the “redistributed money of others.” Phion expands his reflection to pondered why others “don't have to be responsible for their own lives,” when he and his wife have to be responsible and self sufficient for theirs. Phion expresses concern that current welfare systems neglect to give participants any motivation not to take advantage of offered resources. Exclaiming that people living on tight budgets or in poverty should be influenced by programs to “stop having kids they can’t pay for, to be thankful for what they are given, or encouraged to get off the system to support their own existence.” Phion then gets defensive and clarifies that he is not talking about “t... ... middle of paper ... .... United States Department of Agriculture. Web. Sept 13, 2012. Sessions, Jeff. "U.S. Senate Budget Committee." Food Stamp Reforms Will Help Both The Recipient And The Treasury. 19 June 2013. United States Senate Committee On The Budget Republicans. Web, public/index.cfm/budget-background?ID=4ebe218a-dbbd-4a16-8d4e-8dcff1aeff7b>. Walsh, Connor. "Background on the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act." Senate Majority Leader Eric Cantor. 19 Sept. 2013. Web. . Weber, Joseph. "Lawmakers could save millions by targeting food stamp fraud -- will they?" Fox News. 3 Nov. 2013. FOX News Network. Web. .

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