USANews版 - Obama USDA met 30 times with Mexican gov’t to promote foo |
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l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Obama USDA met 30 times with Mexican gov’t to promote food-stamp use among
Mexican immigrants
Department of Agriculture personnel in the Obama administration have met
with Mexican Government officials dozens of times since the president took
office to promote nutrition assistance programs — notably food stamps —
among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in
America.
Writing in response to Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions’ July request
for information about the USDA’s little known partnership with the Mexican
government to educate citizen and noncitizen immigrants from Mexico about
the availability of food stamps and other nutrition assistance programs,
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defended the partnership as a way to curb
hunger in America — and the continuation of a program formed under the Bush
administration in 2004.
“The Mexico-U.S. Partnership for Nutrition Assistance Initiative is just
one of a wide range of USDA partnership activities intended to promote
awareness of nutrition assistance among those who need benefits and meet all
program requirements under current law.” Vilsack wrote to Sessions in a
letter obtained by The Daily Caller. (RELATED: USDA uses Spanish soap operas
to push food stamps among non-citizens, citizens)
Since the partnership began, Vilsack wrote, USDA personnel have met at least
151 times with officials from the Mexican government “to discuss nutrition
assistance programs as well as to provide program updates.” Those
instances included 91 meetings with embassy and consulate staff in 25 U.S.
cities; 29 health fairs in 19 U.S. cities; and 31 roundtable discussions,
conferences and forums in 20 U.S. cities.
Roughly 30 of these meetings and activities occurred under the Obama
administration, Vilsack’s letter revealed.
The agriculture secretary added that the list might not be exhaustive as
some of the meetings may not have been recorded.
Sessions has been the lead lawmaker pushing back against the partnership.
According to the Alabama senator, the program appears to be in “plain
conflict with the sound principles of federal immigration law.”
“The premise of American immigration is that those entering our country
should have to work and to contribute to the financial health of the United
States,” Sessions told TheDC Sunday evening. “Not only does the
administration violate this principle through the partnership, but it does
harm by gradually displacing the role of family and community with continual
government aid. Welfare reform is guided by the moral principle that good
policy helps more people live better lives.”
In his letter, Vilsack asserted that USDA does not pressure people to enroll
in the program or is attempting to boost its rolls. President Obama, too,
has said that “people do not come here looking for handouts.”
“We do not pressure any eligible person to accept benefits, nor is our goal
to simply increase the number of program participants, but we are
determined to help people in need make informed decisions about whether or
not to seek assistance for which they may be eligible,” Vilsack claimed.
The mission USDA articulates on its website is to “increase participation
in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” — food stamps. The
agency has been engaged in aggressive advertising campaigns and issuing
guidance to state and local offices about how to enroll more beneficiaries.
“I share the goal stated in your letter,” Vilsack concluded in his letter
to the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, “which is to help
people move toward gainful employment and financial independence. At the
same time, the Nation’s nutrition assistance programs have never been
needed more to help struggling families until they get back on their feet. I
hope that this information clarifies our efforts and my views on these
vital program.” (RELATED: USDA suggests food stamp parties, games to
increase participation)
But statistics in Vilsack’s letter indicate that the number of legal non-
citizens participating in SNAP increased approximately 190 percent from 2001
to 2010, from 425,000 to 1.23 million legal non-citizen participants. That
number rose 77 percent since the program’s inception in 2004, when it
served 693,000 non-citizen participants.
USDA did not offer data for 2011 and 2012, but a Republican Budget Committee
staffer told TheDC that based on the growth rate, the number of legal non-
citizens participating in the food stamp program today is about 1.63 million
. That’s more than double the number of legal non-citizens who participated
in 2008.
“Our nation is nearing a debt crisis and yet the Obama Administration has
conducted thirty activities and meetings with the Mexican government to
place even more foreign nationals on American welfare,” Sessions said. ”
The number of non-citizens receiving food stamp support has doubled since
the president took office. Such a policy defies rational thinking during a
time of weak growth, high debt, and increasing welfare dependency. President
Obama will have to defend this alarming partnership to the American people.”
Vilsack stressed that illegal immigrants are barred from participating in
SNAP, and that states are required to determine whether applicants are legal
citizens. He added that the USDA’s Food Nutrition Services supports the
Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) eligibility check
program.
Food stamp participation reached an all time high this summer with 46.7
million people enrolled in the program overall. Spending on SNAP has doubled
in the last four years and represents USDA’s single biggest annual
expenditure, according to a Bloomberg report.
“Nearly 1 in 6 people living in the US are now on food stamps,” Sessions
noted. “How can the administration justify trying to increase that number
through outreach on the foreign soil of fifty consulates?”
He added that the continuation of the partnership demonstrates how far the
country has moved from the guiding principles of the 1996 welfare reform and
said there is a need for a renewed effort to return to that vision.
Participation in nutrition assistance programs like food stamps by non-
citizens does not hinder their ability to qualify for citizenship or
immigration status adjustments, according to current Department of Homeland
Security immigration policy. | P*********0
发帖数: 4321 | 2 Started under Bush....
Don't think you ever read the bullshit you posted
among
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【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: Obama USDA met 30 times with Mexican gov’t to promote food-stamp use among
: Mexican immigrants
: Department of Agriculture personnel in the Obama administration have met
: with Mexican Government officials dozens of times since the president took
: office to promote nutrition assistance programs — notably food stamps —
: among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in
: America.
: Writing in response to Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions’ July request
: for information about the USDA’s little known partnership with the Mexican
: government to educate citizen and noncitizen immigrants from Mexico about
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