Over the past week a number of Democratic congresspersons, along with some of their aides, have been participating in the SNAP Challenge as a way to draw attention to proposed Republican cuts in food assistance (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) to the poor. Participants have agreed to attempt to live on the average SNAP payment of $4.50 a day, and most are reporting that they are hungry. “It’s tricky. You know, I just got done having lunch and I’m hungry again,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI).

Republicans, predictably, have called this a stunt and some have joined the challenge in order to prove that $4.50 a day is a perfectly adequate amount of money for food. Donny Ferguson, an aide to Texas congressman Steve Stockman, took the challenge after accusing Democrats of “…intentionally buying overpriced food and shopping at high-priced chains…”

According to the congressman’s website,

Donny Ferguson, who serves as Stockman’s communications director and agriculture policy advisor, was able to buy enough food to eat well for a week on just $27.58, almost four dollars less than the $31.50 “SNAP Challenge” figure.

Things were going so well that Ferguson observed

We can cut the proposed benefits by an additional 12.4 percent and still be able to eat for a week. Not only am I feeding myself for less than the SNAP Challenge, I will probably have food left over.

But then Ferguson ran into a problem. According to the Dallas Morning News an unexpected trip forced Ferguson to go over his food budget, as he was unable to bring along some of the canned goods he had purchased on his flight. His solution to the problem was to limit himself to $9.00 in food purchases for the time he was gone, but in doing so he went over his budget by 14%. It is true that most SNAP recipients would not likely have to worry about airline restrictions and such, but as writer Emily Wilkins observed in the piece this illustrates what can happen to a person’s food budget when facing unexpected circumstances.

There were more problems with Ferguson’s SNAP Challenge purchases than just his budget overrun. The biggest problem was with the type of food he chose to purchase with his $4.50 per day allowance. Congressman Stockman’s website offers a list of what Ferguson bought with his money.

Two boxes of Honeycomb cereal

Three cans of red beans and rice

Jar of peanut butter

Bottle of grape jelly

Loaf of whole wheat bread

Two cans of refried beans

Box of spaghetti

Large can of pasta sauce

Two liters of root beer

Large box of popsicles

24 servings of Wyler’s fruit drink mix

Eight cups of applesauce

Bag of pinto beans

Bag of rice

Bag of cookies

Gallon of milk

Box of Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal

The list is loaded with fat, starches and sugary foods. One can of refried beans, for example, contains as much as 18% of a person’s recommended daily allowance of saturated fat and up to 30% of the daily allowance of sodium. Completely absent are any fresh fruits or vegetables. In fact, using the USDA’s current “National Fruit and Vegetable Retail Report” as a guide, you can easily see that purchasing an adequate amount of fresh fruits and vegetables is simply beyond the means of someone who only has his or her SNAP allowance to spend. There is also the matter of protein. Ferguson’s list contains only two significant sources of protein; peanut butter and beans. And with the protein you get from peanut butter you also get 200% of your daily allowance of fat.

Ferguson summed up his food buying experience with this rationalization, suggesting that the poor don’t buy healthy food because junk food tastes better:

Folks aren’t buying fast food instead of vegetables because of benefit limits, they’re buying fast food because fast food tastes great and vegetables taste like vegetables.

Not to be out-crazied by a fellow Texan, congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) also weighed in on the matter, observing that the country’s obesity epidemic suggests that the poor are eating far too well, and therefore we can spend less on programs such as SNAP.

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