Forty-seven million people took advantage of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program in 2012, but a proposal to cut $40 billion from the program could leave between 4 and 6 million people without that help. Why punish people who are struggling? The Food Bank For New York City’s Margarette Purvis, author Sasha Abramsky, Columbia University professor Dorian Warren, and The American Prospect’s Monica Potts joined host Melissa Harris-Perry to discuss why the Republican conception of who makes up “the poor” is wrong and designed to hurt and shame families and elderly Americans.
About 100,000 people on food stamps in each congressional district, Abramsky pointed out, which makes the attitude of congressional leaders even more baffling. Representatives like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor are ignoring the needs of their own constituents.
“Forty billion dollars is not a cut that you can say belongs to ‘those people,’” said Purvis. “It will impact all of us.” People don’t seek out food stamps, “this should be the last stop” for people, she said, not the first.
Watch the Saturday discussion above.
Meredith Clark
Meredith Clark is a freelance writer and editor. She was previously a senior news producer for "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj," a reporter with MSNBC.com, the digital politics and culture editor at Glamour and a senior news and politics editor at Refinery29. She has written for Vulture, Rolling Stone, Self, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast and Bustle.