Thread by @lenubienne

The "Unhealthy, EBT-wielding Welfare Queen" trope must die. A thread.

I've been a state-certified social worker since October 2001, and I have personally helped 1,000s of clients obtain SNAP, TANF, and WIC to assist their attempts to fight and climb their way out of poverty. Spoiler alert: the system is designed to fail each and every one of them.

Before anything else, let's review key terms. "Welfare" is a blanket term used for government assistance that has been weaponized primarily against single Black mothers when in fact, it is a sprawling network of billions in federal aid used by your favorite for-profit companies.

There is a long list of industries that receive government subsidies (welfare) before a single individual is even considered to receive aid. Remember that.

Now, let's discuss individual aid programs. thebalance.com/government-sub…

Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) is the card/payment method used to make qualified purchases. It is an electronic system that allows a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participant to pay for food using SNAP benefits. fns.usda.gov/snap/ebt

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) also provides benefits including SNAP with EBT. Plot twist: their guidelines explicitly further the myth of the Welfare Queen, and espouse Christian, cishet, (man+woman) two parent nuclear family ideals. hhs.gov/answers/progra…

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income, pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women...

...and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk. fns.usda.gov/wic

So if you are poor, raising children under 5, and you identify as trans, male, or non-binary, you're out of luck.

The eligibility criteria for these programs should be simple, but the application process is a quagmire of bureaucracy and conflicting info, often only available in English and sometimes Spanish.

Have you noticed a trend, yet? benefits.gov/benefit/1348

If you speak a non-supported language, or if you don't understand the questionnaire, or if you are undocumented, access is even more limited. During the pandemic, offices are closed for in-person service, so you have to navigate hours of multiple phone prompts & waiting on hold.

In the event you are able to successfully jump through all the hoops required by the USDA & FNS (the federal depts that manage SNAP/TANF/WIC), the amount one is eligible to receive (and length of time) requires bi-monthly recertification or benefits cease. usda.gov

Only after passing the gauntlet will an EBT card arrive for food, cash, or both, depending on your family size, gender, orientation, age, and household "needs." Example: single women-identified people with no children (in TX) are only eligible for max. $203/mo in food benefits.

Pregnant/breastfeeding women with children under 5 years of age qualify for WIC, but men & non-binary people get left out. There is a Grand Canyon-sized gap between what one is eligible for, and what a household truly needs to survive, forget thriving. clasp.org/blog/racism-pu…

When you finally get to a store, the food you CAN buy with SNAP is not determined by doctors nor nutritionists, it is determined by nefarious grocery lobbyists. sourcewatch.org/index.php/Groc… For WIC recipients, eligible foods are even brand- and size-specific. fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-…

The debate between healthy vs unhealthy food is subjective and steeped in bigoted stereotypes, but ultimately, "unhealthy food" is more widely available because of #foodapartheid. Staple food grocery stores simply don't exist in poor neighborhoods. ask.usda.gov/s/article/Why-…

Also? We need to collectively move away from saying "food desert" to using #foodapartheid, because deserts occur naturally. Lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other "healthy foods" is deliberate, human-made segregation. theguardian.com/society/2018/m…

To recap,
1. SNAP eligibility and purchases are highly restricted, and
2. there is the glaring barrier of purposeful, reduced availability of "healthy" stores within 5 miles of where recipients live.

https://twitter.com/lenubienne/status/1088256831716233217?s=20

Study after study shows us that "healthy" diets are expensive and out of reach of people who live at, near, or below the poverty line. Inexpensive food is easy to find because it's easy to mass produce and distribute. THAT is why it's eligible for SNAP.

https://twitter.com/lenubienne/status/894343243445481472?s=20

Also, "welfare reform" conversations are grossly misguided & punitive towards poor Blacks. Welfare spending is less than 10% of the US federal budget, and the two largest categories of recipients are corporations (gov't subsidies) and poor white children. thoughtco.com/who-really-rec…

Discussions about welfare in general (or EBT being used for unhealthy food) are just thinly veiled insults against poor people, fat people, and Black women. Auto, aviation, utility & farming industries are the REAL welfare queens. Leave poor people alone.
cato.org/cato-handbook-…