To: The United States Senate
Our Debt Should Count Towards Expenses for the SNAP Program
We all have debt nowadays and some of us have to utilize the SNAP program. It currently does not include our debt as an exspence so it is not used to help you receive SNAP. We need to change this as many of us are stuck with fixed incomes and low wages but too much debt to pay for. This equals to depending solely on SNAP as your food source
Why is this important?
I was a healthy twenty six year old with a young family, no debt, a college degree and about to buy our first house. Then one day in December 2016 I went to work not knowing it would never be the same as that morning again. I worked at a horse stable and I had to lift a bag of shavings off the pallet of shavings into my wheelbarrow. It fell, I stupidly caught it and it immediately pulled me with it. All I felt was a pop and pain from the center of my spine down into my foot. Needless to say, everything was no longer how it was. My work had insurance but they still to this day have not given much treatment as they deny almost everything or delay my Physical Therapy which happens all the time even with a lawyer involved. The disability checks are very minimal and my husband at first had to help me so much all the time he missed work. We ran out of money and almost went homeless right before we finally received a HUD apartment.
All this being said, I have racked up a ton of debt paying for food, gas, medical equipment/assistive devices because they again fight me on everything. I do receive SNAP, it is $32 a month because I have been forced into HUD housing and it counts against you when you have SNAP. For someone like me, my credit cards became the only way to afford food, but they all have a limit. Unfortunately SNAP will NOT include this an expense and if it did I could buy enough groceries for an entire month for my family.
This situation I am in is not new anymore and the federal government needs to step up and help those who really don’t have any other options. Everyone should have enough food for their children and not be panicking all the time about food. Please stand up for those of us that did everything right and still ended up where no one wants to be.
All this being said, I have racked up a ton of debt paying for food, gas, medical equipment/assistive devices because they again fight me on everything. I do receive SNAP, it is $32 a month because I have been forced into HUD housing and it counts against you when you have SNAP. For someone like me, my credit cards became the only way to afford food, but they all have a limit. Unfortunately SNAP will NOT include this an expense and if it did I could buy enough groceries for an entire month for my family.
This situation I am in is not new anymore and the federal government needs to step up and help those who really don’t have any other options. Everyone should have enough food for their children and not be panicking all the time about food. Please stand up for those of us that did everything right and still ended up where no one wants to be.