Youize The Snap News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

We're not in a developing world country we're not seeing images of swollen bellies and insects buzzing around children. that's what people think of when they of starvation. what does it look like? >> someone desperately trying to hold down one or two minimum wage jobs without benefits and still unable to put food on the table. that's what it looks like. >> people you work with, we have seen a huge change in the program the amount of people on snap has gone up. people look at this and say there's something wrong here. $80 billion a year is not a amount of money. what has happened? >> the reason...

Continuing these programs. the biggest recipients of the money. it's all cycled back into the economy. >> no one's saving -- companies like kraft that make the boxed food that's inexpensive to buy, companies like walmart, supermarkets, all plow in the money from these food stamp programs. we also had this interconnectedness of our safety net programs that's going to make this a double problem. feeding america that operates lots of food banks around the country sent out an alert saying, you have kids who get free and reduced lunch because their families are eligible for snap. >> eligibility is ...

12% more. he had a full belly with a few bucks to spare. let's keep in mind who is beneficialing from snap. it's based on total gross household income. to qualify a family of four cannot exceed 29,976 a year, which calls 2,498 a month. subtract 949 for a typical two bedroom apartment. another 1,066 in child care costs. you're left with $483 for everything for the month. car insurance, gas, electric and phone bills, heat, clothes, incidentals and groceries. i'd like to see mr. ferguson manage that challenge for a whole year and then tell me how well he ate. joining me now is congresswoman barba...

She's probably sitting next to someone in school who is. you're impacted by this whether you personally are or not. and i think we all pay the bill for the fact that we're willing to -- we're really being pennywise and pound foolish. we have a massive obesity problem in this country. we're not looking at food policies that support the -- healthy foods. make those ridiculously cheap that someone on snap can afford. >> many of your viewers can't grasp what $20 billion means. every soup kitchen in america provides about $5 billion worth of food. if the house cuts go through, it's as if every char...

I'd like to see mr. ferguson manage that challenge for a whole year and then tell me how well he ate. joining me now is congresswoman barbara lee, democrat from california and co-founder of the out of poverty caucus. she organized the snap challenge to ask congress to pledge to eat on a budget of less than $5 a day. when in your life did youize the snap program and what did it mean to you? >> i'm glad you're covering this. this is so important to many members of our country. in the early '70s, i had some difficult times, i was raising two small children as a single mother. there was nowhere to...