Understanding Government

Reading James Bovard’s screed on food stamps as a “magnet for abuses and absurdities” in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, I immediately thought, “Wow, he’s targeting food stamps the way conservatives in the 80s and 90s attacked welfare.” By the end of the piece Bovard makes it explicit: “Decades after liberals derided Ronald Reagan’s reference to a Cadillac-driving ‘welfare queen,’” Bovard writes,”Obama administration policies could easily permit Trust Fund Babies driving Rolls Royces to get free food courtesy of Uncle Sam.” Is there a valid argument behind this overheated rhetoric?

Not really. (more…)

Sara Murray of the Wall Street Journal reports that nearly 44.6 million Americans received food stamps in March — or roughly fifteen percent of the entire U.S. population. So even with other indicators — like the unemployment rate — suggesting a tepid economic recovery, more families and individuals have requested financial assistance in buying groceries. The states my blogging tends to focus on have followed these trends — Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan all have seen increases in food stamp use.

The abbreviated positive take is that more people who qualify for stamps are taking advantage of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture-funded program. The negative take, of course, is that three years after Wall Street collapsed millions of Americans are still mired in poverty or near poverty.

The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday that would have the state’s Dept. of Human Services study the cost of putting ID photos on resident’s Illinois “Link” — i.e. food stamp — cards. As the legislation moves to the Illinois senate, it’s not clear if the bill is a solution in search of a problem, as there is little evidence that widespread food stamp fraud exists. The debate comes as 900,000 people in Illinois — and 43 million, or 13 percent, of all Americans are enrolled in food stamps, the federally paid for, state-administered nutrition program. (more…)

Food stamps are maybe the best-functioning part of the social safety net in both Illinois and the country.  Is there any real reason to mess with them?  Now an Illinois House committee has approved a bill requiring that all Illinois Link cards, the debit-like card used by food stamp recipients, have a photo ID.  Hannah Hess of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that not only must the full Illinois state legislature and governor approve the measure, but the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, which funds food stamps, must also sign off.  Supporting lawmakers contend the photo IDs will stop those who use a link card other than their own. However, there is little evidence food stamp fraud is a widespread problem, or that it has been costing the government a significant amount of money.

The Obama administration wants to improve nutrition among low-income children, but one initial policy effort looks misguided. Natalie Moore of WBEZ (i.e. Chicago Public Radio) reports that Dept. of Agriculture Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Janey Thornton met students at a Chicago South Side school yesterday to talk healthy eating. Thornton appeared at Richards Career Academy, a “food desert” bereft of nearby grocery stores. The Obama administration’s response to the major Chicago problem of food deserts is to change the federal food stamp program: