Oh SNAP. (Why the Democrats in congress voted against poor people.)
by digby
I mentioned the other day that the Democrats who are now vociferously protesting the draconian food stamp cuts committed political malpractice by voting for cuts in the first place. Dday has all the details and it illustrates perfectly just how pernicious bipartisan deficit fever (and “adult-in-the-room” syndrome) has been during this economic recovery:
Cast your mind back to those bygone days of 2010. The stimulus was chugging along, and the 13.6 percent increase in food-stamp benefits, officially known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), was one of its most effective measures. Food stamps are among the most effective ways to deliver direct assistance to people in need, and because it’s a benefit that involves consumer purchases, it props up the retail sector as well. Every dollar increase to SNAP generates around $1.70 in economic activity, according to Moody’s Analytics.
The increased SNAP benefit was supposed to phase out gradually, by letting inflation catch up to the higher benefit level. Because of smaller-than-expected increases in food prices, the money allocated in 2009 would have lasted until at least 2016. But Democrats, in full control of the government, decided SNAP money could serve as a funding source to funnel to other needs. For example, the stimulus was too small to reverse the carnage caused by the Great Recession, especially in the states, where thousands of teachers were being fired, and Medicaid beneficiaries were losing their coverage. In 2010, Democrats had the idea for a $26 billion supplemental state fiscal-aid bill, to fill those education and health-care gaps.
Earlier that year, Democrats proudly wrote and passed a statutory “pay as you go” bill, on a party-line vote, forcing all new federal spending to be offset by reductions elsewhere in the budget. The state fiscal-aid bill would have to be paid for, and the Obama Administration immediately looked to SNAP as a cookie jar they could raid. According to then-House Appropriations Committee chair David Obey, “Their line of argument was, well, the cost of food relative to what we thought it would be has come down, so people on food stamps are getting a pretty good deal in comparison to what we thought they were going to get. Well isn’t that nice? Some poor bastard is going to get a break for a change.”
Liberal politicians and advocates reckoned that the state fiscal-aid package filled an immediate need, while the SNAP rollback wouldn’t take effect until years later, presumably when fewer people would need the assistance. In the end, Democrats used $11.9 billion originally intended for SNAP to fund the state fiscal-aid bill, accelerating the phase-out of the increased stimulus benefit to 2014. But everyone on the left insisted that they would push to restore those cuts before they took effect. Progressive allies like Chuck Lovelace, legislative director for AFSCME, the public-employees union, told me back then, “we intend to go back and work to restore that benefit at the appropriate time.” Liberal senators like Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat, agreed, telling the Huffington Post, “we’re going to be able to find a way to ensure that there’s help for needy folks in terms of assistance with hunger.”
But instead of immediately working on restoring the funds, Democrats would raid SNAP again. First Lady Michelle Obama has made a priority of the child obesity epidemic, and she heavily promoted the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The bill, which reauthorized the child-nutrition program that delivers free school lunches to needy children, allocated $4.5 billion to implement new standards for healthier foods and to increase access to free school lunches. Because of the pay-as-you-go rule, this also required offsets. And SNAP proved an inviting target once again. In August 2010, the Senate partially financed their version of the bill with a $2.2 billion cut to SNAP, leaving the increased benefits to phase out by October 2013. This was the equivalent of paying for more school lunches for poor children by taking away their future breakfasts and dinners.
I’m sure everyone in the country is impressed that Democrats are the adults in the room who gleefully instituted Pay-Go in the middle of an epic economic crisis. I know I am.
Read the whole thing. The story just gets worse.If you’ve been reading this blog you know what I think about how the Democratic White House’s adoption of austerity rhetoric, Grand Bargains and “reform” has harmed the progressive agenda. The story of how progressives in congress reacted to it is nearly as depressing.
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