Trump Wants to Take Food From Families

While the mainstream media focuses on twitter fights:  Trump USDA Wants To Take Millions Off Food Stamps Trump USDA proposes new rule to strip food stamps from over 3 million Americans. Common Dreams: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday proposed a new rule that would strip food stamps from more than three million Americans. USDA chief Sonny Perdue, in a call with reporters Monday, said the rule change would end automatic food stamp eligibility for those receiving other forms of federal and state assistance. The 60-day comment period on the proposal is set to begin Wednesday. Tens of millions of people suffer from hunger and food insecurity each year in the United States, and the SNAP program is widely recognized by experts as an effective way to reduce hunger—particularly among children. Policy experts, lawmakers, and commentators warned the Trump administration’s proposed rule—described by one critic as ‘unconscionable’—would increase hunger among vulnerable Americans. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that the rule would ‘take food away from families, prevent children from getting school meals, and make it harder for states to administer food assistance.'” Refusals To Expand Medicaid Causes 16,000 Deaths New data show that failing to expand Medicaid has led to 16,000 unnecessary deaths. LA Times:“Adversaries of Medicaid expansion have always pointed to the lack of evidence that enrollment in Medicaid improves health and saves lives, and therefore the expansion is a waste. A new study should put that argument to rest, permanently. The researchers found not only that the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act brought appreciable improvements in health to enrollees, but also that full expansion nationwide would have averted 15,600 deaths among the vulnerable Medicaid-eligible population. In other words, the 22 mostly red states that refused to accept expansion starting in 2014 caused 15,600 unnecessary deaths among their residents. ‘This highlights an ongoing cost to non-adoption that should be relevant to both state policymakers and their constituents,’ write the study’s authors, charitably. Fourteen states are still holding out. Medicaid expansion has been a litmus test for Republican governors and legislative leaders aiming to demonstrate their anti-Obamacare bona fides.” This is what racism does.