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furlough inspectors and give mexicans food stamps

redrobin

Well-known member
Salmonella outbreaks. E. coli outbreaks. Millions of dollars in economic losses.

These are among the scenarios the Obama administration warned about last month as it claimed the sequester would force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to furlough meat inspectors.

But while the administration prepares to take that step, it continues to pursue a "partnership" with the Mexican government to "raise awareness" about food stamps. When a top Senate Republican proposed cutting off funds for that program last week -- in the form of an amendment to a budget resolution -- Democrats on the Budget Committee shot it down.

It's hard to put a firm price on the cost of the partnership, which was first launched under the George W. Bush administration. But an aide to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who has railed against the partnership for months, said it could easily be in the millions. Since 2004, the program has blossomed to include dozens of meetings and conferences and health fairs -- all of which cost money, not to mention the cost to the food stamp program of new enrollees brought in as a result of this partnership.

Sessions, in a statement to FoxNews.com, said he believes the public will eventually demand an end to the program, though the Senate Budget Committee allowed it to continue in the vote last week.

"We have uncovered extensive evidence that federal authorities have -- during the Bush and Obama Administrations -- aggressively undermined a core legal tenet of immigration policy: that those granted admission should be self-sufficient and contribute to the economic health of the nation," Sessions said. "It is amazing that Budget Committee Democrats would unanimously vote to continue funding these costly promotions, especially when our debt is causing such profound economic harm."

According to a letter from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to Sessions last September, the "partnership" since 2004 has included roughly 91 meetings between U.S. and Mexico embassy and consulate staff; 29 health fair events; and 31 roundtable discussions, conferences and forums in 20 cities.

Twenty percent of the meetings and activities occurred since 2008, according to Vilsack's letter. Sessions is concerned the collaboration amounts to a vehicle for the USDA to pressure people onto the food-stamp rolls -- in this case, noncitizen immigrants from Mexico.

The USDA denies this. In his letter last year, Vilsack said the purpose is "to help eligible people in need make informed decisions about whether or not to seek assistance."

The initiative is one of several the agency has "to promote awareness of nutrition assistance among those who need benefits and meet all program requirements under current law," Vilsack told Sessions in the 24-page letter.

However, his letter indicates the number of legal, noncitizens participating in the program -- now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- has increased from 425,000 to 1.23 million between 2001 and 2010.

Meanwhile, the USDA continues to press forward with plans to furlough meat inspectors, describing it as a necessity of the sequester -- though the department has eased off a bit on warnings that this could lead to more foodborne illness, since all meat and poultry will still have to be inspected.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/18/dems-preserve-us-mexico-food-stamp-partnership-while-usda-prepares-for-meat/#ixzz2NtZ3U8h4
 

Mike

Well-known member
There's been a huge shift in demographics since the last welfare reform.

Dems are determined to lock in the immigrant vote, legal or not.

In a few years the white male can say bye-bye. He will be a minority without the perks of the minorities at present......................
 

MoGal

Well-known member
Pitiful when we treat illegal aliens better than our own senior citizens, isn't it?

Why would anyone in their right mind allow an illegal alien citizenship/amnesty when they are on the government teat????? THOSE should be the first ones DENIED citizenship and I'm not joking either.

Some more of that good ole "change" we were promised..... and I'm sick of this "change" and the damage its doing to my country.
 

Steve

Well-known member
In this world-turned-upside-down context, let's look at the eligibility rules for Food Stamps, rules that in 46 of the 50 states mean that the U.S. government rewards a household for having an illegal immigrant within it.

Such households have a mix of illegals (often parents) and citizens (usually kids); only the citizens are nominally eligible for the benefits of the program, but if groceries purchased by Food Stamps are on the dining room table, the common-sense assumption is that all members of the family will benefit from it.

Yes, all else being equal, a low-income household with one or more illegal aliens in it, is more likely to get Food Stamps than a household with similar income with all members being legally present. In another, related scenario both families are eligible, both have equal incomes, but the one with an illegal alien member seems to get a larger allotment.

Well the Food Stamp program (now called SNAP, for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is, appropriately, income-tested; if the household has too much income, nobody in it gets any Food Stamps. There are nuances, of course, but if the household of four's gross income is less than $29,064, for example, it is, all else being equal, eligible for Food Stamps. If the household size is smaller, the cut-off is lower, and vice-versa. (The calculation of exact the size of the monthly allotment is too complex to be discussed here.)

Ah, but how does the U.S. Department of Agriculture define "income" in this setting?

There's the rub. The rule in 46 of the 50 states is that if one of the members is illegally present in a household of four, for instance, then the gross income of the household is reduced by a fourth for Food Stamp eligibility purposes. So, if there are two households with actual gross incomes of, say, $36,000 a year, each with four members, and one consists of nothing but legal residents, and one has one illegal plus three legals, this is how the eligibility would work out:

Four legals, with income of $36,000 a year – NOT eligible for Food Stamps.

Three legals + one illegal with household "income" calculated at $27,000 a year - BINGO – eligible for Food Stamps.

The question of Food Stamps for these mixed households has a long, and to me, bizarre history. I started looking at these matters about 30 years ago when I persuaded the Ford Foundation to give me a little grant to examine the relationship between immigration and income transfer policies.

What I found about Food Stamps and illegal aliens was this: Congress passed legislation in 1977 denying illegal aliens Food Stamp benefits. In 1979 the Department of Agriculture's regulations, based on the 1977 law, said that "the income and resources of an ineligible alien living in a household shall not be considered in determining eligibility or level of benefits of the household", a huge boon to the illegals.

Sometime later the nationwide regulations were changed, again, creating the proportionate downward income-adjustment policy; at least the proportional rule, now in effect, is better than the pre-1982 total ban on all income from illegals in the benefit formula.

The continuing ability of the mass-migration people to manipulate the Food Stamp program rules in this manner is both impressive and depressing.

so sneak in,.. have a citizen (baby) and get a card.. and then sit back and wait for citizenship..

In 2001, according to data obtained by the United States Department of Agriculture, about 425,000 non-citizens were on the food stamp rolls. In 2003, that number increased to 519,000, in 2006 it was 795,000, and in 2009, when President Obama took office, it was 994,000.
Now, in 2012, it's estimated that 1,634,000 non-citizens are on food stamps. That means, since President Obama took office, the non-citizen food stamps has nearly doubled

and that is not counting the illegal families with a citizen (baby)...
 
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