Hill Dems trying SNAP challenge
More than two dozen members of Congress are eating on a budget of $4.50 a day this week, taking the SNAP challenge to live on the average budget of a food stamp recipient.
The effort is timed with debate of the House farm bill, which in its current form would cut $20 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. Participants in this week’s challenge include members of Congress, congressional staff and even people beyond the Beltway, including former Rep. Anthony Weiner. Most will take the challenge for a full week, having started on Thursday.
The common refrain so far? “I’m hungry.”
“I’m really relying on the peanut butter,” Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) said.
“It’s tricky. You know, I just got done having lunch and I’m hungry again,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said, after having a BOCA Burger and an orange for lunch.
But members are quick to point out they are participating in the challenge by choice, representing individuals who don’t have one.
“Doing this challenge is something that I choose to do … but for millions of Americans, this is how they get by, this is how they work to avoid being hungry, and often, that’s a challenge that they’re not even able to meet,” Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) said. “Standing in line at the grocery store, it’s relatively few items in my cart, and calculating how much I think they’ll cost only to learn that I was off by a little bit, which necessitated putting back a couple of items and leaving with even less — it’s just really difficult to do once, I can only imagine how excruciatingly difficult it must be to that every single week.”
The campaign is being led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a former SNAP recipient herself who is doing her third year of the challenge. Other high-profile SNAP challenge participants have included New Jersey Senate hopeful Cory Booker, who did his week last winter.
Lee says she hopes the effort will call attention to the necessity of SNAP.
“I was on food stamps for many years raising two boys, trying to go to college,” Lee said. “I would not have been in congress if it were not for that bridge over troubled waters, so to speak.”
The issue goes beyond a moral issue, participants say. Lee points out that for every $1 spent with SNAP, $1.70 is returned to the economy.
It’s also an issue of health, they say.
“What’s eye opening is first of all, the types of foods you can only buy on $1.50 a meal. They’re high in sodium, fat and starch content. Very few fruits and vegetables. If you buy vegetables, you have to buy canned vegetables,” Lee said. “When you look at the high incidence of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes [in low-income communities], it’s off the scale, and a large part of it is diet.”
Only Democrats are participating in the challenge, though a spokeswoman for Lee said every member of Congress received an invitation. Still, Lee’s office says it’s the biggest response they’ve gotten in the three years of the challenge.
Participants hope that by walking in someone else’s shoes for the week, they can offer important perspective on the upcoming farm bill debate.
“I think as we debate this next week, the more of us who do it, the more we show that it’s not just some people that you don’t know … who really rely on this program,” Pocan said. “This is something that affects so many of our constituents. But you know around here, this is a city of lobbyists who definitely aren’t eating on $4.50 a day.”
Many members are documenting their week on social media, posting grocery lists, pictures of meals and updates on Facebook and Twitter. Lee’s office coordinated a branding and hashtag campaign to make sure it had maximum impact, a spokeswoman for Lee said
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