EDITORIAL: Remember this at election time
In the 1950s, American psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of the things people need to thrive.
The premise is straightforward. To flourish, human beings first require that their basic needs – like having enough to eat – are met.
Our federal lawmakers are failing an estimated 42 million Americans by not meeting that essential need. With the budget impasse dragging on, those who receive money to put food on the table through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program have no idea when, or if, they will get those benefits.
The Trump administration initially said SNAP recipients would not receive any benefits in November. Then, rulings from two federal judges on Oct. 31 required the administration to fund the program using $6 billion in contingency funds. By the middle of last week, the administration indicated it would partially fund the program this month, despite the president’s post on Truth Social that SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up the government.”
This past Thursday, another federal judge weighed in, ordering the administration to give SNAP recipients their full allotment this month.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. wrote that the Trump administration “failed to consider the harm individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer.” By Friday morning, the president asked an appeals court to block that order, contending the judge’s ruling “makes a mockery of the separation of powers.”
By the time this editorial makes it to print, who knows what will have happened.
That suffering hits close to home, particularly in Fayette County, which ranks second in the state for the percentage of SNAP recipients at 24.4%. Greene County ranks sixth, with 20.2% using the federally-funded program.
Our neighbors in Washington County rank 46th out of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
All of the counties have seen a spike in those who desperately need help. As of Friday, representatives of Food Helpers, which serves the region, told the newspaper’s Karen Mansfield they’d seen triple the number of people coming for help.
This heartbreaking scenario rests at the feet of those who were elected to run our country. They should all be ashamed for their inability to come together, find a compromise and pass a budget.
It seems they’ve forgotten they were elected to represent us. That representation should not include letting 1 in 8 low-income Americans go hungry.
They would be wise to remember the constituents who voted them into office. And, their constituents would be wise to remember that they’ve failed to meet our basic needs.