Could you live on a $4.50/day food stamp allotment?
Rep. Jim McGovern, who has been leading the charge to stop billions of dollars of cuts to the food stamp program (SNAP), will begin a food stamp challenge tomorrow, June 13, to draw attention to the plight of the poor and hungry in America. Twenty Congressional leaders, staffers, and supporters have joined the challenge to live on $4.50/day for one week. Here is information from McGovern's website.
Starting on June 13th, 2013, I will be joining over 20 of my Congressional colleagues, staffers and Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services John Polanowicz for the 2013 National Food Stamp Challenge.
I will live on $4.50 a day for food for a week to bring attention to hunger and the $20 billion in cuts SNAP millions of Americans are facing. This is a conversation we need to have, and I hope this Challenge will help us continue the dialogue. Stay tuned to this page for updates from many of the participants!
And for more on my ongoing efforts to bring attention to hunger on the House floor, visit my #EndHungerNow page.
McGovern has given a series of speeches on ending hunger in America. Watch them here. Fifty million Americans are living with food insecurity. Now is not the time to cut billions from food stamps– while adding billions to the Pentagon budget.
A list of Congressional Representatives taking the National Food Stamp Challenage is after the jump.
McGovern's challenge follows Newark Mayor (and now US Senate candidate) Cory Booker's food stamp challenge from last winter. Booker used video and social media to publicize what he bought and how difficult it is to live on $30/week.
According to the Food Research Action Center, as of last Friday, the following House Members have committed to taking the SNAP Challenge: Lee (CA), Matsui (CA), Holmes-Norton (DC), Carney (DE), Schakowsky (IL), Duckworth (IL), McGovern (MA), Conyers (MI), Kildee (MI), Levin (MI), Ellison (MN), McCollum (MN), Nolan (MN), Watt (NC), Kuster (NH), Lujan-Grisham (NM), Crowley (NY), Rangel (NY), Fudge (OH), DeFazio (OR), Cartwright (PA), Langevin (RI), ORourke (TX), Veasey (TX), DelBene (WA), Pocan (WI). (Hmmm… no one from Arizona on the list, of course.)