Altimont owns Carmenā€™s Corner Store in Hagerstown, Maryland, a community where around 20 percent of people rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy their groceries. But a federal agency decided that Altimont can never accept SNAP as a form of payment at Carmenā€™s.

That decision isnā€™t because Altimont has done anything wrong as a business owner, but rather because of unrelated crimes from 2004, for which heā€™s already served his time.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) permanently bans anyone with drug, alcohol, tobacco, or firearms convictions from participating in the SNAP programā€”a harsher punishment than the agency dishes out to those who have actually defrauded the program. Thatā€™s not just irrational, itā€™s also unconstitutional, which is why Altimont teamed up with our organization, the Institute for Justice (IJ), to file a federal lawsuit against the agency on Tuesday.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    He said in another comment that he was poor, and then he went to collegeā€¦ dude doesnā€™t have a clue.

    • Haywire@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Im poor and went to college. Most of the people in college seem to be poor. I know very poor kids who got full scholarships. I know people deeply in debt from college.

      Iā€™m just saying one does not preclude the other.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Thereā€™s a vast difference between living on a budget and being so poor that loans arenā€™t enough, you didnā€™t finish high school because the family had to eat, and scholarships are laughable for most people.

        Eating ramen to afford your on campus housing is not being poor.

      • Osirus@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Right. These people donā€™t know about loans. Or grants, or paying as you go. I was poor the while way thru college. One night I ate uncooked stuffing for dinner. Lol. It sucked. I lived off of the dollar store and 1 dollar bag of egg noodles, 1 dollar can of spaghetti sauce and butter and salt. Or ghetto pizza (saltines, 1 dab of spaghetti sauce per, sprinkle cheese onto, microwave)