Missouri senators outline plan to curb food stamp fraud

[lady_grace]

JEFFERSON CITY - Two Missouri senators are reaching across the aisle in order to stop low-income people from spending welfare benefits on alcohol and entertainment.

Sens. Will Kraus and Maria Chappelle-Nadal outlined their measure at a news conference Monday which would prevent welfare recipients from spending their electronic benefits at liquor

Comments

[mahasin]

Right, poor kids deserve the zoo too.

[alicephilippa]

Monies that are supposed to benefit the kids shouldn't be being spent on booze, gambling or porn. Places like amusement parks, zoos and museums do benefit the emotional welfare of them though and should be permissible.

Emotional welfare is as important as physical welfare.

[ebay313]

Poor people should be trusted to manage their own finances the same as anyone else. Just because part of one's income is in the form of government assistance doesn't make legislating extreme levels of invasiveness into individuals lives and spending anymore appropriate. (If childrens' needs are not being met, then that's a CPS issue. If they are, then people should mind their own fucking business.)

[ebay313]

I was confused at first reading this with the title saying food stamps, since food assistance already cannot be used on these things.

"Currently, electronic benefits can be transferred into cash, allowing recipients to make cash withdrawals at an ATM and then spend their money on anything."

Yeah, I was thinking this. Even if we ignore the question of should these restrictions be legislated- it's fucking stupid regardless when talking about CASH assistance that can be taken out as CASH.
But then, sadly, it'll probably not be too long before they start changing that in order to better control all the restrictions people want to put in place.

[wikilobbying]

like otherwise mentioned, this article is certainly misleading and can't seem to distinguish between ebt and tanf, but that proposal is bullshit. especially when trips to museums and zoos can be cheap (relatively speaking, anyway, at least in my experience?), especially if you're taking advantage of specials or discount days or something. not to mention, going to amusement parks, zoos, and museums can and often are beneficial on a different level. they're an attempt to inject a moment of less stress into your otherwise stressful life, a break. god forbid anyone have fun when they're poor, especially the children whose parents probably want them to be able to feel like actual children for as long as they can. how fucking dare politicians do shit like this to take that away from families.

[alexvdl]

Funds given to you by a specific agency for a specific purpose should be spent for that purpose. I don't believe it's "invasive" for someone to give you money for a specific purpose, and then expect you to spend it for that purpose if you want more.

What someone does with money that they earned is theirs and should be spent however they choose, regardless of someone else's opinion of the wisdom of such spending.

I.E. If my boss hands me ten dollars and tells me to buy lunch, I should use that money to buy lunch. If my boss hands me my paycheck and tells me to buy Ikea furniture, or to NOT buy lottery tickets/porn/lap dances then fuck that.

[alexvdl]

If TANF funds are given to a family under the expectation that they should be used for a certain thing, then I think that they should be used for that certain thing. If they are given the money with no instructions or riders, then I don't give a fuck what they spend it on.

Doing some research on the matter
"The four purposes of TANF are:

assisting needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes;
reducing the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage;
preventing out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and
encouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families."(http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/tanf/tanf-overview.html... )

[recorded]

It's definitely beneficial to development for kids to go to zoos/museums so it's money well invested. I don't know how it is in other states, but in Illinois there are rotating free days for the zoos & museums which is awesome for those just over poverty level