Saturday, September 21, 2013

Democrats
Dot Calm--

House Republicans are voting today to cut food stamps by $40 billion, which would kick up to 6 million people off the program.

I can throw a lot of stats and numbers at you about how terrible that would be, but I think an article from the New York Times a couple weeks ago sums it up best.

Here's the part that really got me:
As a self-described "true Southern man"--and reluctant recipient of food stamps--Dustin Rigsby, a struggling mechanic, hunts deer, doves and squirrels to help feed his family.
He shops for grocery bargains, cooks budget-stretching stews and limits himself to one meal a day.
...
For the Rigsbys, both 20, the priority is three meals a day for their son, Drake, who is 1.
Some months they run out of milk.
Mr. Rigsby, who is out of work with a knee injury, recently sold his truck for cash; his wife, Christina, works part time as a clerk at J.C. Penney.
 On the refrigerator in their sparsely furnished apartment is a calendar marked with the date--the 6th--that their card is refreshed. "FOOD!" it declares.
"When we got married, we told each other that we want to be able to sit down at the table and eat as a family," Mrs. Rigsby said.
"But we don't really get to do that."

In Washington, House Republicans propose cutting $40 billion more in food stamps over the next 10 years by imposing work requirements and eliminating waivers for some able-bodied adults.
The cuts would push four million to six million low-income people, including millions of "very low-income unemployed parents" who want to work but cannot find jobs, off the rolls, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Those proposed cuts are being voted on today. And we need to stop them.

Add your name, and call on Republicans to stop playing games with food stamps.

http://my.democrats.org/Protect-SNAP


Thanks,

Debbie

Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Chair
Democratic National Committee