Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

A recent Bloomberg News report by Mike Dorning reports that Sonny Perdue, Secretary of the USDA, is recommending cuts of SNAP benefits that will affect 3,000,000 individuals, most of whom are children. Why?

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said state governments “have misused this flexibility.”

“We are changing the rules, preventing abuse of a critical safety net system, so those who need food assistance the most are the only ones who receive it,” he added.

So, as reported earlier this week, the same USDA that intends to deregulate the use of a dangerous chemical used on foods in the name of providing flexibility to chemical companies is now regulating the distribution of SNAP funds in the name of “preventing abuse of a critical safety net system”. How cutting funds for a “critical safety net system” will help those who benefit from it is beyond me. If anything, this decision is reminiscent of the strategy used in Viet Nam where villages were burned to the ground in order to save them. Something is very wrong with this picture!

Meanwhile, the same USDA that is looking to save nickels and dimes by shredding the safety net continues to subsidize millionaire farmers. As Forbes reported a year ago,

Last year alone (i.e. 2017), a very fortunate 400 entities, including farmers, corporations, and agri-businesses, harvested between $1 million and $9.9 million each in federal farm subsidies.

Contrast that to the new regulations proposed by the USDA:

Forty states and the District of Columbia currently use alternative eligibility criteria that allow participants in some federally funded welfare programs to automatically receive food stamps as long as their income is less than double the poverty level.

Brandon Lipps, an acting deputy undersecretary in the Agriculture Department, told reporters in a conference call previewing the regulatory changes that in some cases states enroll residents for food stamps even though they are receiving federal welfare benefits of minimal value — including brochures.

The proposed regulations, to be released Tuesday, would only allow automatic enrollment of people who receive welfare benefits worth at least $50 a month on an ongoing basis for at least six months. Other than cash, the only welfare benefits that would qualify are subsidized employment, work supports such as transportation, and child care, Lipps said.