Congressional Food Stamp Challenge

Existing on food stamps: Reporter Sarah Barr joins Chris Van Hollen in learning how to live on the bare minimum

The Sentinel

by Sarah Barr
Oct. 24, 2007

Earlier this week, I spilled half of a glass of milk.

It wasn't a lot, but I was disappointed, knowing that I couldn't just pour another glass to make up for what I had lost. I am currently on day five of the food stamp challenge, which asks participants to live for one week on the nation's average food stamp benefit of $21 - that's $3 per day, $1 per meal. I have carefully allotted my milk for the week and more just wasn't an option if I planned to have any for Saturday.

That is the crux of the challenge: to provide a small glimpse into the choices that people who use food stamps must make each day. And while I haven't been noticeably hungry yet, the tough choices people make are increasingly obvious.

The challenge got rolling last summer in Pennsylvania when the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger asked local residents to commit to living on the amount of the average food stamp benefit. The Coalition credits a local food bank with the initial idea, but the most important point is that word spread quickly after a Philadelphia reporter wrote about his experience, said Ellen Vollinger, legal director for the Food Research and Action Center, a D.C.-based non-profit that has tracked the evolution of the challenge.

Various community groups then picked up on the idea after it was highlighted by FRAC and other organizations. When a group of Oregon hunger leaders challenged their governor, Democrat Ted Kulongoski, to participate, his acceptance drew national attention. Soon a bipartisan group of governors and congressional representatives from across the county was joining in.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who represents a large part of Montgomery County and a slice of Prince George's County, is among the newest crop of national leaders taking the challenge.

"It quickly focuses your mind and your stomach on just how little $21 a week pays," said Van Hollen on the third day of his challenge experience. The congressmen did his shopping in a Wheaton Giant and had so far spent only $16 - with green peas, lentils, beans, pre-sliced turkey, two tomatoes, an onion and bananas making up the bulk of his list - in order to give himself some wiggle room as the week draws to a close.

Van Hollen is completing the food stamp challenge in conjunction with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which included the challenge in their year of action to draw attention to hunger and poverty in the U.S.

"The reason you do it is to raise awareness about the inadequacy of the food stamp benefit," said Hadar Susskind, Washington director of the Council, an umbrella organization for 13 national and 125 local Jewish organizations.

The challenge coincides with congressional consideration of the Farm Bill, which includes the food stamp program, the minimum benefits of which have not been raised since the mid-1970s. The House of Representatives recently passed their version of the bill with language that is a little better, according to Susskind, and debate is now focused in the Senate.

"I just wanted to get a real-world sense of what it means to survive on the average food stamp allocation, just to get a sense of what people go through," said Van Hollen. Among the immediate lessons he reports are the limitations in food variety, the inability to shop in bulk and the difficulties of maintaining a nutritious diet.

From my end, the lessons have been similar. I'm sick of peanut butter, craving fresh vegetables and was frustrated by my options within the grocery store as I had to buy more than I needed of certain items, forcing me to neglect others. I don't need a full box of pasta for the week or a whole bag of rice, and that money could have gone to other items like vegetables.

Granted the challenge occurs in a vacuum, and if I were to live on this budget for more than seven days I would probably have a stock of certain items that I did not need to buy every week. However, the challenges of timing - and of the very adequacy of benefit - are quite real for actual food stamp recipients, said Vollinger.

Food banks around the country provide anecdotal reports that their client load increases at the end of each food stamp period, according to Vollinger. "That would suggest that while it's true that the program was designed to be a supplement, people don't have enough resources," she said. Furthermore, far more people are eligible for benefits than those that receive them.

In August, in Montgomery County, 24,720 individuals received food stamp benefits and statewide there were 332,353 recipients, according to the Maryland Department of Human Resources. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicate, however, that a scant majority -- 53 percent -- of those eligible in Maryland received benefits in 2004.

Other issues of timing have also illustrated the difficulties the current food stamp benefits present. I was originally assigned to begin my challenge the same day as Van Hollen. However, I started the day after because I was taking an important standardized test the previous morning and didn't want to deal with it yet. I had that choice - something the average food stamp recipient doesn't have.

I'm pretty confident I'll make it through the next three days. I still have, after all, half a dozen eggs, three apples, one yam, half a box of pasta, one quart of milk, six pieces of bread, six slices of cheese, half a bag of rice, four packs of instant noodles and half a jar of peanut butter.

Like I said, I haven't been extremely hungry, and while I know the diet isn't nutritious it's enough to keep me going. One more confession though.

Saturday is my last day, and I plan to quit as soon as I scarf down an early dinner so that I can go out with my older brother for his birthday. I'm willing to bet drinks and dinner (take two) are in order. The conclusion of my week spent on a food stamp diet will be a celebration.

Hardly a realistic end.

Food stamp diet challenge was an unhealthy exercise

San Jose Mercury News
by Nancy S. Tivol
Oct. 9. 2007

The farm bill, which includes the Food Stamp Program, is up for reauthorization. This past summer, some members of Congress and others took the Food Stamp Challenge, spending only $21 on food for a week to focus attention on the program's inadequacies. It's been more than 10 years since any money has been added to the Food Stamp Program, and it is not indexed for inflation.

Although food stamps were intended to be a supplemental program, most recipients rely primarily on food stamps to put food on their tables. According to the California Budget Project, it takes $50,383 a year for a California family of four - with one working parent - to make ends meet and $72,343 if both parents work (higher in Santa Clara County), but a family of four is eligible for food stamps only if its gross annual income doesn't exceed $26,004.

What can you eat for $3 a day? Mostly carbohydrates. Oakland Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee's diet consisted primarily of crackers, a loaf of whole-wheat bread, tortillas, and brown rice. Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, filled up on 19-cent banana-and-peanut butter sandwiches. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., said he would've killed for a candy bar or a cup of coffee. "I've had enough lentils for three years. For us, this is an exercise that ends Tuesday. For millions of people, this is their life," he said.

Feeling full on $3 a day is one challenge; eating nutritionally is virtually impossible. Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky's week's worth of fruits and vegetables consisted of one tomato, one potato, a head of lettuce, and five bananas.

Health problems are a likely result of the food stamp diet because the cheapest foods are carbs: bread, tortillas, crackers, rice, beans, ramen and noodles. It's easy to see why type 2 diabetes is an epidemic in America. No longer is it called adult-onset diabetes because it affects so many children. Eric Schockman, president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, noted other problems after a week eating a lot of canned beans and generic macaroni and cheese (because his childhood favorite brand was too expensive). The diet "was physically debilitating and emotionally exhausting. I was lethargic and found that I lacked my usual enthusiasm for getting through the day. I had difficulty reading, writing, communicating - doing anything other than anticipating (and, in some ways, dreading) my next meal."

Certainly, not all poor, diabetic, and overweight people make wise food choices, but for the poor, wise choices aren't as available. Unlike those who took the one-week challenge, they don't have a newspaper to search for sales or a car to drive to the stores featuring them. In Sunnyvale, there are only two supermarkets north of El Camino Real. Rather than paying bus fares for themselves and children, our clients usually walk to smaller neighborhood markets that don't carry the volume of fresh fruits and vegetables necessary for affordable prices.

Sunnyvale Community Services, a non-profit, emergency assistance agency, provides financial aid to low-income families and seniors facing temporary crises to prevent eviction and utility disconnection or to access otherwise unaffordable medical care. Our food program statistics show the skyrocketing need for food. The number of families participating in our monthly food programs doubled in the past six years from 600 to 1,280. Over the same period, the value of the food we distributed increased from $430,000 to more than $1 million a year.

So what are some actions we can take to try to improve the Food Stamp Program? Contact our state's U.S. senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, to urge their support both of increasing money for the Food Stamp Program and of indexing it for inflation. Have out-of-state family and friends contact their senators. Check the California Food Policy Advocates Web site (www.cfpa.net) for farm bill updates and lobbying tips. Conduct food drives for agencies like Sunnyvale Community Services-emergency assistance agencies and meal programs and the Second Harvest Food Bank. As Schakowsky put it, "Healthy food should not be viewed as a luxury."

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NANCY S. TIVOL is executive director of Sunnyvale Community Services. She wrote this article for the Mercury News.

Rabbis, Congressmen Take Poverty Challenge

JTA 
September 18, 2007.

Three well-known rabbis will join two Congress members in living for a week on meals worth a dollar.

Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of Reform's Religious Action Center, Rabbi Steve Gutow, the director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin of the Baltimore Jewish Environmental Network will join Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Congress' only Muslim, and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) in taking on JCPA's "Food Stamp Challenge." .

The challenge, to be launched today, is aimed at protesting food stamp subsidies that JCPA, the umbrella body for Jewish policy makers, and other anti-poverty groups say force the poor to dine on meals costing no more than a dollar. Leaders in some 20 Jewish communities across the United States will also participate. Saperstein tied the challenge to efforts in Congress to expand food stamp funding through the pending Farm Bill.

AP: Ellison to join rabbi in living on $21 for a week

Associated Press
WKBT TV
September 18, 2007

Congressman Keith Ellison wants to make a point about food stamps.

Ellison will be joined at a news conference today by Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. They, and others, plan to live for a week on $21 -- the national average for food stamp benefits.

Ellison and others will announce a weeklong "Food Stamp Challenge." One of the goals is to raise the minimum food stamp benefit.

Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, is the first Muslim elected to Congress. The week that he and the rabbi will join the challenge falls during Islam's holy month of Ramadan and between the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The food stamp challenge is part of a yearlong initiative on poverty.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Roll Call: More Lawmakers Take On the Food Stamp Challenge

Roll Call
September 18, 2007

Food Frenzy. Congressional ethics reforms has everyone on watch — cocktail wieners on a toothpick, OK; pasta with a fork, bad. But this week, three more Members of Congress will be partaking in the Food Stamp Challenge and abstaining from pilfering Congressional receptions for free food.

Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison (Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) on Friday became the latest Members to take the challenge, starting a weeklong strict diet in which they will try to live on $21, the average amount food stamp recipients get. Ellison, for one, has a leg up on his colleagues. The only Muslim in Congress already has to experience fasting during the holy season of Ramadan, which began last week, and so far, Ellison spokesman Rick Jauert says he hasn’t heard of his boss having any problems keeping to the limited budget.

While passing on overcooked meatballs might not seem like a hardship, it was only a few months ago that Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) fell off the wagon midway through the challenge. At the time, an HOH tipster reported that Ryan was caught sipping a cup of coffee at Ebenezer’s Coffee House in Capitol Hill, while reportedly wearing a T-shirt promoting the campaign.

Congresswoman Lee Continues Food Stamp Challenge
KCBS - San Francisco
June 9, 2007

In an effort to help raise hunger awareness, Oakland Congresswoman Barbara Lee took on the “Food Stamp Challenge,” Tuesday to live on just $21 for one week. With three days left, Lee is down to just $4.00.

A Democrat from California’s 9th Congressional District, Lee is one of several legislators who took on the challenge. She knows from past experience what it is like to live off food stamps.

"We decided to participate in this challenge to help raise the level of awareness and really inform the public that food stamp recipients live on $21 a week, $3 a day," said Lee. "Hopefully through this campaign we will help those who are eligible for food stamps understand that they should apply and that there are some of us who are trying to increase the amount so they can get on their feet."

San Francisco Chronicle
The Food Stamp Diet
Editorial
June 8, 2007

THE HOTTEST diet sweeping the nation has very little in common with Atkins or South Beach. Carbs, in fact, seem to be the only item on the menu: Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, is eating a box of crackers, a loaf of whole-wheat bread, tortillas and brown rice. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, subsisted on cornmeal -- until he cheated and had a pork chop. Eric Gioia, a city councilman in Queens, N.Y., found himself feeling "lousy" and "tired" after a few days of white bread, corn and ramen.

That's how the 26 million Americans who depend on food stamps feel every day.

A long list of politicos, both local (Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, has been filling up on 19-cent bananas and peanut butter sandwiches) and national, have taken a weeklong "food stamp challenge." By attempting to subsist on what they can buy with a week's worth of food stamps -- the average benefit is about $3 a day -- they hope to draw attention to this long-neglected, much-maligned program, which is up for reauthorization (and, hopefully, an $4 billion increase in benefits) in this year's Farm Bill.

Here's what Americans can learn from their ordeal: On $3 a day, it's tough to buy the fresh fruits, vegetables and quality proteins that make up a healthy diet. If a recipient makes a single poor choice at the supermarket -- breaks a single jar in the kitchen -- she may go hungry for days. There shouldn't be any doubt in our minds that increasing benefits for the food stamp program is a vital use of our resources.

San Mateo County Times
Lee Pinches Pennies to Highlight Food-Stamp Plight
By Josh Richman
June 6, 2007

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, walked into a Washington, D.C., McDonald's today, ordered a McChicken sandwich, and reportedly was mocked from behind the counter as she asked for ketchup, mustard -- and strawberry jam.

But for Lee this week -- as it is for millions of Americans every week -- getting every possible crumb of food for her buck was no laughing matter. Tuesday marked the start of Lee's "Food Stamp Challenge" in which she'll subsist for one week on $21, the national average weekly benefit for a food-stamp recipient.

That's about $1 per meal; at $1.10, even the over-sauced McChicken was busting her budget.

"It is important for the public to understand how many people rely on this program and just how limited their nutrition options are," she said.

The food-stamp program is up for reauthorization this summer as part of the 2007 Farm Bill, which is expected to be enacted by Oct. 1. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., who co-chair the House Hunger Caucus, took the challenge last month to highlight their call for another $4 billion to be added to the current $33 billion food-stamp budget; that would give a family of four another $48 per month.

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., also took part in the challenge's first round May 15 through 22.

About 65,000 Alameda County residents are enrolled in the food stamp program, and that's only 53 percent of those who are eligible. The program serves about 26 million low-income people across the nation, about half of whom are children and about 8 percent of whom are over 60. It's meant as a safety net for particularly tough times, and most people leave the program within nine months.

Lee received food stamps while attending college as a single mother of two. But changes to the program made during the welfare reforms of 1996 basically have worn down the stamps' buying power; food prices have increased without the stamps' value keeping pace.

So Lee spent $13.37 at a Washington, D.C., Safeway supermarket Tuesday, buying a box of vegetable crackers, a can of peas, two cans of beans, tortillas, a loaf of wheat bread, two bananas, a box of hominy grits, a bag of brown rice and a package of chicken thighs.

"I was struck by how hard it is to eat in a healthy manner on a tight budget. I had to put the apples back because they were too expensive. Whole wheat tortillas were twice as expensive as flour," she wrote later Tuesday on the challenge's blog, http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com/ "I got grits instead of oatmeal, and I could not afford to get some of the things I eat every day, like nuts, juice or coffee (even instant coffee was $4 per container!)."

"So far, so good, although I am already ready for a snack," she wrote.

Washington Post
Pangs of Hunger -- and Bit of Guilt

By Lyndsey Layton
May 22, 2007

A pork chop and a bag of peanuts proved too tempting for Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), one of four members of Congress who has struggled for the past week to subsist on $21 worth of food -- the equivalent of benefits received by the average food stamp recipient.

Last Friday night, in New Hampshire to deliver a commencement speech, Ryan succumbed to a pork chop in the hotel restaurant because he feared he would otherwise be too weak to give the address.

Afterward, as he rushed to catch a flight back to Washington, airport security officials confiscated jars of peanut butter and jelly from his carry-on luggage, leaving him with nothing but a small bag of cornmeal to eat in the final days of the "Food Stamp Challenge," which ends today.

"It just showed me that when you're living on food stamps, you're really one event away from disaster," he said. "If you drop a jar of sauce or jam, you can lose an opportunity to eat. Some people are constantly living on that edge."

So yesterday, in the Cleveland airport on his way back to Washington from a funeral, Ryan bought a bag of peanuts. "I feel bad I couldn't do it the whole time, but I certainly got the point," said the lawmaker, who lost four pounds during the week and ended his test early, with dinner at a Washington restaurant last night.

He said he came away with two lessons: He made some poor choices when he shopped for the $21 worth of food, and the country's food stamp program is not sufficient for the 26 million Americans who rely on it.

Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), co-chairmen of the House Hunger Caucus, called on lawmakers to join them in taking the challenge to raise awareness of hunger and what they say are inadequate benefits for food stamp recipients. Only Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Ryan took them up on it.

"I've been a little low on energy, but I feel guilty about complaining about anything," said McGovern, who took the challenge with his wife; each lost about five pounds. "For us, this is an exercise that ends Tuesday. For millions of people, this is their life."

McGovern said he faced down many temptations at several receptions and fundraisers -- the duck rolls, the crab cakes, the red wine. "Every time I thought, 'I wish I could have that scallop wrapped in bacon,' at the back of mind I thought, 'Why are you complaining? This is the way people live every day,' " he said.

McGovern and Ryan kept blogs about their experiences and received hundreds of comments from people nationwide, including food stamp recipients who offered recipes and tricks to stretch meals.

"I was so deeply touched by the comments," said McGovern's wife, Lisa. "I was even struck by the angry remarks. One person was dismissive, but he gave a recipe for a biscuit. That was remarkable. . . . It showed me there are people out there who are struggling and it's neighbors and friends. You don't have to look to some faraway place to see it."

McGovern and Emerson have introduced legislation that would add $4 billion to the annual federal food stamp budget, which was $33 billion last year. The proposal could be incorporated into the new farm bill.

McGovern said yesterday that he had not given a lot of thought to what he will eat today as he returns to his more typical diet. "I want a cup of coffee -- or five," he said. "Just probably something that doesn't require a lot of preparation. And not lentils. I've had enough lentils for three years."

Roll Call
May 22, 2007

No More Ramen. Lattes all around! The four House Members who ate for a week on the amount of funds that food-stamp recipients in their states receive are no doubt relieved that their week of eating frugally is over.

The exercise concluded last night, much to the relief of Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who finished his week of lentil-eating a little lighter. “As of last Friday, he had lost three pounds in three days, “ spokesman Michael Mershon said. “He said he hasn’t been complaining because he knows he’ll be able to eat a really big breakfast Tuesday, unlike a lot of people on food stamps.”

Another hardship McGovern encountered: caffeine deprivation. The Massachusetts Democrat could afford only a small package of joe on his $42 food budget, which included food for himself and his wife, Lisa. It was enough for two cups on Saturday and two cups on Sunday, but the java-addicted (and who on the Hill isn’t?) Congressman had to do without all week, since the rules of the challenge prohibited him from partaking of any free food, including the gratis coffee available in most offices.

Other Members who tried out the food-stamp diet included Reps. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). McGovern and Emerson are sponsoring legislation to boost the amount set aside for the food-stamp program when the farm bill is reauthorized this summer.