{"id":17612,"date":"2022-09-28T20:34:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T00:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=17612"},"modified":"2022-09-28T22:39:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T02:39:15","slug":"new-york-post-bidens-food-handout-binge-will-defeat-anti-obesity-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/28\/new-york-post-bidens-food-handout-binge-will-defeat-anti-obesity-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Post: Biden’s Food Handout Binge Will Defeat Anti-Obesity Effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Post, September 29, 2022<\/h3>\n

Biden\u2019s food-program funding binge will ensure anti-obesity programs fail<\/a><\/h1>\n
\n
By James Bovard<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cJackie, are you here? Where\u2019s Jackie<\/a>? I thought she was going to be here,\u201d President Joe Biden pleaded Wednesday from the podium as he launched the White House Summit on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. He was looking for Rep. Jackie Walorski, a Republican congresswoman from Indiana who died last month in a car wreck.\u00a0The White House issued a condolence statement on her death<\/a> at the time, but Biden forgot.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s bewilderment on Jackie epitomized his cluelessness on the issue of hunger and food aid. The president ended by rambling about being able to \u201cwave a wand<\/a>\u201d to solve problems. He pretends that throwing more free food at Americans will magically end obesity and diabetes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Biden proclaimed a goal \u201cto end hunger in this country by the year 2030.\u201d His administration issued a 19,000-word hunger-strategy document<\/a> Tuesday that pretended that federal programs have never inflicted any harm on recipients.<\/p>\n

That willful blindness assures the failures of Biden\u2019s initiatives to curb obesity \u2014 which has increased nationwide almost four-fold since 1980.\u00a0Food stamps, also known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), are a primary culprit. Walter Willett, chair of Harvard University\u2019s Department of Nutrition, observed<\/a> in 2015, \u201cWe\u2019ve analyzed what [food-stamp] participants are eating and it\u2019s\u00a0horrible food. It\u2019s a diet designed to produce obesity and diabetes<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2017 study published in BMC Public Health<\/a>\u00a0found that food-stamp recipients were twice as likely to be obese as eligible non-recipients.<\/p>\n

But instead of reforming food stamps to cease paying for junk food and sugar-sweetened beverages, as the American Medical Association recommends, Team Biden will pressure private \u201ccompanies to reformulate food products<\/a>.\u201d The administration will also push for USDA regulations to compel \u201cSNAP retailers to stock a variety of healthy foods as a basic requirement to participate as a SNAP store.\u201d But it\u2019s fine for SNAP recipients to buy any crap on the shelf. At least the president plans to expand \u201cobesity counseling\u201d for people who squander their food stamps.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration believes food-stamp recipients deserve better treatment than working Americans.<\/strong> States \u201cshould aim to process all SNAP applications within one week\u201d (unlike the year-long delays in processing tax refunds). Though food-stamp enrollment has increased 14-fold since 1969 (from 3 million to 41 million recipients), Team Biden is launching a deluge of recruiting efforts to get more people on the dole.<\/p>\n

Biden proclaimed that his plans will \u201cmake at least 9 million more students eligible for free school meals \u2014 a major first step for free meals for every single student.\u201d But notoriously high-sugar school meals have been a dietary disaster for decades.\u00a0For breakfast Wednesday, the Granite City, Illinois schools offered free chocolate donuts and chocolate milk to all students.<\/p>\n