I’ll break ranks here and tell you that I’m all for Glenn Youngkin’s stupid new “sweetened beverage” ban for SNAP recipients, which I think actually doesn’t go far enough.
I know that what Youngkin is doing here is trying to punish welfare recipients for being welfare recipients.
I say, let’s go all the way, and punish all welfare recipients.
For instance, any business or industry recipient of state taxpayer-funded tax incentives, like money from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund or a VIP Grant.
One company there: AstraZeneca, which is getting $191.3 million from the state toward its new biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Albemarle County.
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Note to AstraZeneca execs: you want to purchase any carbonated drinks that are flavored or sweetened with more than five grams of added sugars or artificial sweeteners, you don’t need our help.
And then: the folks at Amazon Web Services, which is eligible for “up to $140 million for site and infrastructure improvements, workforce development, and other project-related costs” for its plans to establish multiple data center campuses across the Commonwealth.
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Amazon, which has more money than god, twice over, has its hand in our pockets?
No Coke Zero for you, Mr. Bezos.
We don’t want your damn data centers here anyway.
“I think this will be a component of Virginians being healthier and Americans being healthier,” Youngkin said last week.
He was only talking, of course, about his pathetic effort to punish poor welfare recipients – not the rich ones.
It’s all just a publicity stunt anyway. The state formally requested a waiver from the USDA for a demonstration project to amend the statutory definition of food for purchase by SNAP recipients on Nov. 4.
You remember what else happened on Nov. 4, don’t you?
That was the day Youngkin’s Republican ticket got swept, and House Republicans lost 13 seats – meaning, come January, we have a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general who are all Democrats, and a House of Delegates with a 64-36 Democrat majority.
Youngkin got his clock cleaned, his political career is over – so he’s lashing out at SNAP recipients.
“I think in this case, we felt there were lots of alternatives when it comes to beverages that recipients of SNAP benefits could choose from, and that is a deep well of opportunity and choice for folks,” Youngkin said.
The demonstration project doesn’t go into effect until April 1, and it’s almost certain that the new governor, Abigail Spanberger, is going to reverse course on this.
Unless …
I mean, she could expand it, to hit welfare recipients on the other end of the ladder.
Another idea: lift the ban on the folks who need help, and just shift it to those who take our welfare handouts to get even richer.
Video: SNAP the rich welfare folks to attention
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Chris Graham
