Over the summer the U.S government announced a new plan to end the food stamp program for thousands of low-income people, mostly immigrants.The new rule will tighten work requirements for able-bodied adults with no dependents, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a call with reporters.
Under current law, able-bodied adults without dependents can receive SNAP benefits for a maximum of three months during a three-year period, unless they’re working or enrolled in an education or training program for 80 hours a month. But states have been able to waive this time limit to ensure access to food stamps during the ups and downs of reentering the workforce. Before this rule, counties with an unemployment rate as low as 2.5% were included in waived areas. The new rule, which is set to take effect in April will tighten the criteria for states applying for such waivers, making 6% the minimum unemployment rate for a county to receive a waiver…. It arrives as part of a broader effort to limit access to the federal food safety net, the first of three such measures in the works. The USDA initially estimated that up to 750,000 individuals would be dropped from SNAP if the proposal took effect. The USDA now says the figure is 688,000. (Washington Post).
My comment: Epicurus famously welcomed slaves, women, the rich and the poor in his garden. He offered (rather unattractive) meals consisting of nothing more than bread and water, but at least he and his friends could discuss philosophy over something to eat.
Fast forward, in what some call the richest country on the planet, and at a time of full employment when we need more workers, immigrants, in desperation, are being denied sustenance and are effectively being forced to leave the country and return to their crime-ridden and job-scarce countries. This is nonsense, and a disgrace, but it seems that the religiously-inclined are content with it. Christianity only applies to the deserving, apparently. So that’s o.k.
If you subscribe to the teachings of Epicurus it is not o.k.