Republican David Yost Grandstands And Uses Food Stamps To Raise Campaign Money

screenshot of Ohio Auditor of State David Yost giving testimony to US House Committee on Agriculture concerning Food Stamps
Ohio Auditor of State David Yost giving testimony to US House Committee on Agriculture concerning Food Stamps

The Ohio Auditor of State David Yost participated in a hearing of the US House Agriculture Committee on July 6th. As I wrote in a previous post, Yost presented his ‘evidence’ of ‘fraud’ from an audit his office conducted on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka Food Stamps) in Ohio. It was obvious Yost missed the real issue with the ‘fraud’ he found and he then used his appearance in DC to raise money for a future higher office campaign.

For his testimony at the House Committee on Agriculture hearing, which was titled: “Past, Present, and Future of SNAP: Understanding Error Rates and Fraud“, David Yost wrote:

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Stop Scapegoating The Poor Please!

imagine of different amounts of food stamp coupons

Once again a politician, setting themselves up for higher office, goes to the ‘kick a poor person’ playbook to build some conservative cred. Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, who likes to kick things conservatives like to kick – public education, for example, – is now setting his sights on the low hanging fruit of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – better known as food stamps. Yost has a funny idea of fraud that fails to match reality.

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Republicans Prove Again They Are Hypocrites, Hate The Poor, And Are Terrible Christians

a pile of old food stamp coupons

The GOP can now cross “punch a poor person” off their bucket list of asshatery when the US House passed a massive cut in food stamps on Thursday. Most used the false excuse of abuse of the system to justify taking food away from 4 million people. Some of them, claiming to be Christians, used Bible quotes as their justification. These are the same guys who never had to worry where their next meal was coming from. The GOP are so gung-ho about fraud when they can smear poor people but when their corporate buddies are robbing people blindly, the Republicans are NOWHERE to be found.

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Could You Eat On $4.50 A Day? Republicans Think Even That Is Too Much

image from a Bread line in the 1930's
Republicans think they can get elected in 2014 if we have more of these soup lines

The Congress is considering a Farm Bill right now that could cut $20 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which is also known as Food Stamps. It is part of the social safety net where the government provides some help for people to buy food when they are poor or have low income. The reason for the cuts is the same tired false assumptions Republicans make about poor people. Many in the GOP claim that Food Stamps make people dependent on the government, the program is being abused, or worse that charity will cover the need. Like all GOP claims, their attack on food assistance is full of crap.

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“Actually, it’s a lot of work being poor” : Facts from one Ohio county

Long line starts early at Unemployment office

Just hearing the talking points makes me angry so forgive me if I sound angry. Someone will make a comment or bitch about “welfare queens” and about how these lazy poor people have wide-screen TVs and microwaves. If these comments come from friends and family, who should know better, it really drives me insane. Finally my hometown newspaper did me a solid and now I have some facts and figures to fight those biased FOX “news” talking points about poor people.

On Monday, August 22nd, the Findlay Ohio Courier had an article talking about the recent retirement of Judy Wauford, as director of the Hancock County Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). In Ohio, ODJFS handles the state and federal social safety net programs like unemployment, Medicaid, food stamps, and child support enforcement. The piece included some actual facts and data about the poor in Hancock county.

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