The New Right-Wing War on Food Stamps

Conservatives are blocking access to crucial SNAP benefits, with work requirements and limits on what items people can buy.

By Stephanie Land

My daughter’s eyes still show the effects of all the years we went hungry. When she can’t finish a meal, she looks at me fearfully, worried I’ll get upset because she didn’t eat everything on her plate. For most of her life, until very recently, I didn’t have enough money to buy ample, good-quality food for her. So I gravitated to what I knew for certain she would eat—things like Ritz crackers, plain pancakes, mac and cheese. I felt a biological urge to nourish my kid as best I could, even though I knew that what I could afford to buy wasn’t healthy enough.

My daughter’s eyes still show the effects of all the years we went hungry. When she can’t finish a meal, she looks at me fearfully, worried I’ll get upset because she didn’t eat everything on her plate. For most of her life, until very recently, I didn’t have enough money to buy ample, good-quality food for her. So I gravitated to what I knew for certain she would eat—things like Ritz crackers, plain pancakes, mac and cheese. I felt a biological urge to nourish my kid as best I could, even though I knew that what I could afford to buy wasn’t healthy enough.