Letters: G.O.P. vs. Health Law and Food Stamps

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To the Editor:

Re "House Approves Stopgap Money, Setting Up Fight" (front page, Sept. 21):

House Republicans' attempt to eliminate spending for the Affordable Care Act strikes at the heart of a fundamental principle of democratic governance: majority rule.

Republicans are within their rights to repeal Obamacare if they can — that's fair. But the Republicans' threat to harm their fellow citizens by shutting down the government unless the majority accedes to their demands is unworthy of any representative of a country that bills itself as the world's greatest democracy.

MICHAEL CURRY
Austin, Tex., Sept. 23, 2013

To the Editor:

In "House Republicans Pass Deep Cuts in Food Stamps" (news article, Sept. 20), Speaker John A. Boehner and other House Republicans say they want to encourage people to find work.

Yet the Bush administration supported a dramatic increase in the food-stamp, or SNAP, rolls because they understood that SNAP actually encourages people to work and get off welfare by providing what amounts to a wage supplement.

We still have 11.3 million people out of work and millions more working part time but looking for full-time work. The modest monthly SNAP wage supplement allows millions of those low-wage and part-time workers to feed their families at a time when they need it the most.

Congress should focus its attention on raising the minimum wage and creating fair-wage jobs if it really wants to cut the SNAP rolls, not on punishing poor people and increasing hunger in America.

BILL AYRES
Co-founder and Executive Director
WhyHunger
New York, Sept. 20, 2013

To the Editor:

Re "Another Insult to the Poor" (editorial, Sept. 20):

The House's decision to cut $40 billion from food stamps over 10 years is more than just another insult to the poor. It is irresponsible and dangerous.

If this vote stands, not only will 3.8 million poor veterans, older people and children face food insecurity, but this vote also contributes to the health care crisis. Food insecurity does not simply cause more hunger; it means poorer, unhealthier food choices that lead to obesity, especially in children, diabetes and other problems that have long-term health consequences.

Low-income people are already more likely to experience chronic diseases and face an earlier death than their nonpoor counterparts. Not investing in supplemental nutritional programs means that the nearly $150 billion the government already spends on health care because of obesity alone will continue to grow, and the lives and health of low-income people will be that much poorer.

ROBERT L. HAWKINS
New York, Sept. 22, 2013

The writer is a professor of poverty studies at the Silver School of Social Work, New York University.

To the Editor:

It infuriates me to watch the Republicans' utter disdain for humanity as they vote to cut food stamps that so many depend on to survive. It would be more honest if Republicans stopped calling themselves the party of Lincoln and changed their name to the party of Marie Antoinette.

ARTHUR T. BROOKS
Hudson, N.Y., Sept. 22, 2013

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