Food Banks Need a Judge's Order, Military Aid Sails Through
A federal judge had to issue a deadline to the USDA to ensure SNAP food benefits could be authorized during a government shutdown, highlighting the bureaucratic and political hurdles poor Americans face to eat. This, while US politicians routinely bypass such delays for military aid packages for foreign nations. For example, in 2023, Congress swiftly approved $14.3 billion in security assistance
to Ukraine and $14.5 billion to Israel, often through emergency spending measures that face minimal opposition, and certainly no federal judges demanding action to feed their own populace first. One might wonder: if a judge has to compel the government to feed its own citizens, what kind of 'emergency' is truly considered paramount by our elected officials? Perhaps the emergency is only recognized
when it aligns with the priorities of powerful lobbying groups like AIPAC, which spent $3.1 million in 2023 lobbying Congress, rather than the hunger of everyday Americans.