The Trump administration’s proposed budget would slash about $213 billion from food assistance over the next 10 years. That’s on top of the creepy, Orwellian idea they came up with to substitute food boxes for the bulk of food assistance, with the government determining what poor people eat, how much of it they could eat, and when they could eat. That insane idea—which Annie Lowrey has 60 important questions about in a tweet thread—is just a reflection of how miserably mean and punitive Republicans have become.
And while Trump himself is bragging about how “After many years we have taken care of our Military,” this budget proposal would force military families to go hungry, food boxes or not.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation,” Army Lt. Gen. Anthony R. Ierardi, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff Director for force structure, readiness and assessment, said of the difficulties of troops who have to resort to food stamps. […]
Amy Bushatz of Military.com last year cited a report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office which said that the Department of Defense lacked the data or coordination with other federal agencies to keep an accurate track on how many troops were receiving food stamps.
The report found that about 23,000 active duty service members received food stamps in 2013, according to U.S. Census data. In addition, information from the Department of Defense Education Activity showed that in September 2015, 24 percent of 23,000 children in U.S. DoDEA schools were eligible for free meals, while 21 percent were eligible for reduced-price meals.