Gov. Kasich waives food stamp time limit for rural whites, forces urban minorities to go hungry

[eridani]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/22/1423910/-Gov-Kasich-waives-food-stamp-time-limit-for-rural-whites-forces-urban-minorities-to-go-hungry

In 1996, Congress passed a bill putting a time limit on food stamp access for those in need. The law forbade "Healthy, childless adults" from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for more than three months in a three-year period, unless they had a job or were in a training program for 20 hours or more per week. Then-Congressman, now-presidential candidate and Gov. John Kasich co-sponsored the bill.

It was the first time Congress had implemented such a time limit, and the impact was extreme: About 1 million people would lose food stamp access under this law. When lawmakers pushed back, an important exception was added to "allow states to seek time-limit waivers for areas with especially high unemployment."

As governor of Ohio, Kasich has taken advantage of those time-limit waivers himself. While hypocritical—it was his idea to limit food stamps, after all—his use of the waivers is not the problem.

The problem is how his administration distributes them. According to Mother Jones:

"Ohio civil rights groups and economic analysts say Kasich's administration is using the waivers unequally: It applies for waivers in some regions of the state but refuses them in others, in a pattern that has disproportionately protected white communities and hurt minority populations."

[ProgressiveEconomist]

1. SNAP is 100 percent Federally financed

Will any of the media who get to interview Kasich ask him why he refused repeatedly much free money that stimulates growth? Even John McCain's campaign economist, Mark Zandi, acknowledges that every dollar invested in SNAP generates $1.74 in extra economic activity--see https://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/JEC-Fiscal-Stimulus-102909.pdf .