Jackson Free Press

For Hunger Awareness Week in Oregon, Gov. Ted Kulongowski will spend the week seeing what it is like to live off the food budget of a food stamp recipient to illustrate how important it is for Congress to not make cuts in the food stamp program. Could you do it?

(CBS/AP) Oregon Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his wife, attorney Mary Oberst, have enough money to get by and meals are generally no problem.

But things will be different this week.

This is Hunger Awareness Week in Oregon, and for the next seven days, Kulongoski and Oberst will be cutting way back – down to the budget one would live on if relying on food stamps – a diet they hope others will also follow for a few days to better understand the plight of those who have no choice.

They'll spend just $3 a day apiece on their meals, $42 in all, to match the amount spent by the average food stamp recipient in Oregon.

"I'm gonna probably go back to what I remember in college, Top Ramen and hot dogs," said Kulongoski....

The Oregon governor is also a strong advocate of school breakfast and lunch programs. "When the federal government cuts back on them," says Kulongoski, "you're actually depriving children of opportunity to basically have a healthy life and at the same time, to be able to learn while they're in school."

The Bush administration has proposed several cuts to the program, among them taking away food stamps from about 185,000 people who qualify only because they receive other non-cash government assistance. The Department of Agriculture budget, as proposed, would also eliminate a program that gives boxes of food to nearly half a million seniors each month.

The administration has proposed some changes hailed by hunger advocates, like excluding retirement savings from income limits, and setting aside money to encourage food stamp recipients to purchase more fresh produce.

I wonder if we could get Haley Barbour to try this diet, and to also see what it's like to live in the Delta on Medicaid with no car.

Previous Comments

ID

112431

Comment

If Haley were to do it, there would be no need for him to do "Let's Go Walking, Mississippi" commercials. I do think that's very admirable for Oregon's governor to do this. On a related note, there is a book called "Nickled And Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenrich. She spent some time experiencing to see what it's like living on minimum wage. You really don't know what it's like until you've been in a person's shoes.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2007-04-23T13:20:06-06:00

ID

112432

Comment

Morgan Spurlock has done the minimum wage experiment too. It was featured on Oprah.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-04-23T14:00:39-06:00

ID

112433

Comment

The only thing that Bush needs to cut is that WAR. He needs to CUT & RUN!

Author

justjess

Date

2007-04-23T14:10:10-06:00

ID

112434

Comment

Interesting!!!

Author

Ben Allen

Date

2007-05-01T11:06:14-06:00