United States President Donald Trump wants to slash the budget for food
stamps by $17.2 billion, or 22 per cent.
Instead of food stamps that low-income people use to buy groceries,
Trump says the government will deliver a food basket that features canned
goods.
The Trump budget presented to politicians this week also cuts funding
for public health insurance and federal housing vouchers.
This comes hard on the heels of cuts to corporate tax rates and for the richest income earners.
The budget presumes lawmakers will overhaul long-standing entitlement
programs for the poor in ways beyond what Congress so far has been willing to
do.
The food stamp program, officially known as Supplemental Nutritional Assistance
Program (SNAP) provides an average of $125 per month to 42.2 million Americans.
Under the full-scale redesign, the Agriculture Department would use a
portion of those benefits to buy and deliver a package of U.S.-grown
commodities - officially dubbed "America's Harvest Box" - to
recipients, using the government's buying power to lower costs.
Trump is determined to undermine everything that the first black U.S. president accomplished. It's the revenge of the whites.
