Food Stamps at Starbucks Causes a Stir

Apparently, food stamps can be used to purchase Starbucks in Oregon... and some people are really angry about it.

All of the noise started when Jackie Fowler used her Oregon Trail Card (EBT card) to purchase a frappuccino and a slice of pumpkin bread at a Starbucks inside a Safeway.

Fowler made the purchase to show her local Fox news station that it is possible to use SNAP benefits at Starbucks.

She feels that it is a misuse of the state's food assistance funds. Fowler stated that Starbucks sells luxury items, and if a food stamp recipient wants a luxury item, they should purchase it with their own money.

According to the SNAP benefits guidelines, people cannot purchase foods that can be eaten in the store or hot foods. Nowhere in the SNAP guidelines does it say that a recipient cannot purchase "luxury" items.

In fact, recipients can purchase soft drinks, cookies, ice cream and bakery items. A Starbucks frappucino is a cold drink, and a slice of pumpkin bread is a bakery item, so there is no real issue present. In addition, both the bread and the drink can be eaten off of the property.

I understand that the country is still suffering a recession, but lashing out at poor people is not the answer. This type of attack on the poor first reared its ugly head earlier this year when people got all up in arms because certain states allowed SNAP benefits recipients to purchase fast food with food stamps.

If Fox wants to talk about misuse of funds, she needs to start looking at what the big banks have been doing and stop worrying about what impoverished people can purchase with their EBT cards.