Food Stamps - Not Stamps Anymore!

There should be no one who begrudges giving food benefits to those who are in financial situations for which they had no control. With high unemployment hitting the middle class, single parents with no choice but to stay home with their children, and people too ill to work, our government must provide a food safety net. No one, especially children should go hungry or be forced to beg for food. What many still refer to as Food Stamps is now a benefit in the form of a credit card or sorts, called EBT, or Electronic Benefits Transfer. This allows the beneficiaries to use their card in much the same way others use credit cards at the grocery store. Unless you are behind the person in line, and happen to see the card, you would not know they were getting food assistance, which is as it should be. No need for public shaming for those in need of food basics.

But with the plastic card comes abuse as reported in the news lately. Some of those less fortunate have been using their food benefit cards for such things as liquor, tattoos, tobacco products, and cruises. Even more bizarre are the reported uses for strip clubs, body piercings, and, yes, even guns. So now many states have had to put limits on the EBT cards to help stem the abuse (more are considering those ideas). They are trying to limit the EBT benefits to food and clothing, while making ATMs in strip clubs, casinos, and other such places off limits. ATMs you might ask? Yes, the EBT cards apparently can be used to withdraw cash, which we have to assume can be used for nearly anything -- Cigarettes, big screen TVs, drugs, or a bet with your bookie.

Those opposed to more rigid controls on EBT state that by restricting the uses, the government is contributing to the stereotype of the welfare cheat. Well, if there are abuses as stated above, then it is those people themselves who contribute to the stereotype. I suspect abuse is not rampant; most EBT recipients really do need food and not tattoos, but any abuse that can be prevented, should be. The government should share is largesse with those less fortunate, but asking that EBT be used only for food and clothing is hardly an imposition. Restricting cash withdrawals to smaller amounts, maybe once a day, should provide the legitimate user with funds for those places that do not take EBT, such as some Farmers’ Markets. Even the most fervent conservative taxpayer should be able to embrace a needed program with proper limits. It is the “outliers” that get the news and get the “bootstrappers” up in arms about the welfare state. The government should not give them even more ammunition.