Letter to the editor: Farm Bill is based on common myths
I grew up believing that people on food stamps were lazy, uneducated, and dependent. These common myths about food stamps stigmatize and hurt families.
Here in Utah, 86 percent of the families that receive SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps) have at least one working family member, and the average duration families use SNAP benefits is actually less than a year. For most families, SNAP benefits provide help following a difficult event — a serious illness, job loss, or divorce. It’s a temporary help that frees up limited funds so families can eat and keep the roof over their heads during a crisis.
Work requirements already exist for people who receive SNAP, but the new Farm Bill simply makes these onerous — extending the work requirements to mothers with children in elementary school and adults over 50 years old. The bill also requires families to document work every single month — increasing the implementation costs of the program and burdening families who are already struggling through a crisis.
In addition, the Farm Bill cuts SNAP by nearly 10 billion meals in the next decade.
Please call and ask Rep. Stewart to vote no on this Farm Bill that is based on myth, not fact.
Debbie Baskin
Salt Lake City
Articles related to “Letter to the editor: Farm Bill is based on common myths”
Petition to reinstate terminated Dixie State University professors circulating online
Dixie State University is firing people, again — a suggestion on how to respond
How to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or letter to the editor to The Independent
Do you have something to say? Want your voice to be heard by thousands of readers? Send The Independent your letter to the editor or guest opinion piece. All submissions will be considered for publication by our editorial staff. If your letter or editorial is accepted, it will run on suindependent.com, and we’ll promote it through all of our social media channels. We may even decide to include it in our monthly print edition. Just follow our simple submission guidelines and make your voice heard:
—Submissions should be between 300 and 1,500 words.
—Submissions must be sent to editor@infowest.com as a .doc, .docx, .txt, or .rtf file.
—The subject line of the email containing your submission should read “Letter to the editor.”
—Attach your name to both the email and the document file (we don’t run anonymous letters).
—If you have a photo or image you’d like us to use and it’s in .jpg format, at least 1200 X 754 pixels large, and your intellectual property (you own the copyright), feel free to attach it as well, though we reserve the right to choose a different image.
—If you are on Twitter and would like a shout-out when your piece or letter is published, include that in your correspondence and we’ll give you a mention at the time of publication.
