Donny Ferguson (artist's conception)

Donny Ferguson (artist's conception)

Hoo boy. Remember how Donny Ferguson, Rep. Steve Stockman's communications director, decided he'd show House Democrats and millions of food stamp recipients how it's done by living on a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program budget for a week, comfortably and with food left over

About that.





@DonnyFerguson Foiled by TSA. Can't bring my #SNAPChallenge food on the plane with me, and I'm not paying $50 for the privilege of losing checked luggage.

In an email, Ferguson said he didn’t find out about the trip until Tuesday—a few days after he had bought the food and begun the challenge. He said if he would have planned differently had he known about the trip in advance.

I took my bag and walked towards the gate thinking about the 4 or maybe 5 meals that she had taken from me. What am I going to do now? It’s not like I can just go to Safeway and grab another jar. I have .33 cents and a bag of cornmeal to last today and tomorrow.

Although Ferguson had to buy more food while on the road, he's claiming that because he didn'tmore than the average SNAP budget, he is the "Undisputed SNAP Challenge Champion." According to the Dallas Morning News But he still wins, see, because no person living on very little money ever in the history of all time had anything unexpected come up that left them with fewer resources than they expected! No SNAP recipient ever spilled or burned food, had food go bad thanks to a power outage or broken fridge, or otherwise found themselves short of the food they'd so carefully planned and budgeted. Certainly it's not like this exact problem came up in 2007 when then-Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) did the food stamp challenge and his peanut butter and jelly were confiscated by TSA. At the time, Ryan wrote:No, Donny Ferguson is calling himself the Undisputed SNAP Challenge Champion because his unexpected loss of some of his food is unique and special and doesn't count. (Kidding! He's calling himself that because he's an asshole who doesn't begin to understand what the words "undisputed," "SNAP challenge," or "champion" mean. Just like he doesn't understand that his original planned SNAP diet of rice and beans, popsicles, cookies, and soft drinks is the kind of unhealthy, unvaried diet that counts as low food security and causes increased health care costs due to trifling conditions like diabetes.)