Instead of cutting food stamps, Congress should spend less on wars

Oh S.N.A.P.!

by Tim Young, volunteer

As Congress attempts to corrects defecits around the nation, tough decisions have been made. One of the most critical and questionable, however, has been the decision to cut nearly $20 billion from food assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). They say that this money has been redirected to other good programs, such as fire and police departments and education systems, but it proves to be just rhetoric when we take a closer look.

Current numbers show that nearly one in every seven families is receiving benefits from food assistance programs. These statistics work out to at least two families on your block surviving with assistance from the government. At current rates, each family receives roughly $134 dollars per month. After the recent cuts, they will receive $59 less per month by 2013.

Though Congress tells us that it is meeting with state and local needs, are we not forgetting about something much larger – namely, the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? Virtually no one can forget the wars that were started by the GOP, which ultimately led to its downfall and the rise of Democratic leadership. The major campaign promise from President Obama was to end these wars and so rectify the errors of the past administration.

At the end of July, Congress passed a bill which allocated $33 billion to continue the same war – one the administration promised would end at that exact same time. Isn’t that an odd coincidence? We were told that at the end of this July only “combat” troops were being removed. That rhetoric changed, however, as “administrative” troops were moved into the region in their place. If you take out the not-so-catchy adjectives, this administration has decided to withdraw troops and replace them with…troops. Furthermore, troops aren’t replacing weapons with paperwork, so it would appear that our military presence in the Middle East is unchanging contrary to the Obama administration’s promises.

So it’s up to your imagination as to where that money is going. Sure, it looks nice if you say that your tax dollars fund projects such as education or the local fire department, but since all dollars are created equal (and arguably of less value everyday), one can just as easily say that his/her neighbors are being forced to give up eating so that our country can continue to fight a war that we should have never been involved in and were promised would end.

Given the very basic numbers that I have presented here, if Congress had only given an extra $13 billion to fund the war, there would be no need for any cuts whatsoever to food service programs in our nation, and we could still provide for state deficits and needs. With the unemployment rate being reported at almost 10% nationwide and calculated at well above 17 percent when including those not reporting and working less than full-time, isn’t it time we stopped funding unnecessary international projects and started to help those who are in need here at home?