Food Stamps, Obamacare, The Ukraine

The Ukraine
Russia is wrong to send troops into the Ukraine.  Not anywhere on the scale of US wrong in invading Iraq, for example, but wrong nonetheless.  The Ukraine and Russia share more than 1400 miles of border and you can see how Russia may have concerns about stability on its door step.

(Map is adapted from ESL-in-Canada's website)

The situation in the Ukraine is complex but here's a brief summary.

• The elected president of the Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, was ousted after demonstrations protesting his cancellation of talks on a European Union trade agreement.  Russia had offered $15 billion in aid to keep the Ukraine in their sphere of influence.  Yanukovich's  sympathies and inclinations lie more with Russia than Europe.  
• Yanukovich's assets and those of 17 others were frozen this morning by the EU, alleging embezzlement of government funds.  
• The Crimean Parliament has voted to leave the Ukraine and join Russia with a referendum set for March 16.  Crimea has a large Russian population and was part of the Soviet Union until 1954, when Nikita Khruschev gave it to the Ukraine. 

The turmoil in the Ukraine is being identified as a restart of the Cold War.  This is utter nonsense.  An editorial in The Nation calls for "the international community [to push] for compromise to prevent this fragile and bitterly divided country from breaking apart."  The Nation notes "We are reaping the bitter fruit of a deeply flawed post–Cold War settlement that looks more like Versailles than Bretton Woods, a settlement inflamed by the shortsighted American decision to expand NATO eastward and pursue other policies aimed at isolating Russia and ignoring Russian interests."

Food Stamps
Democratic governors in New York and Connecticut and the Republican governor of Pennsylvania have taken measures to thwart the Congressional cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.  As explained at philly.com : "The cuts to SNAP delineated in the federal Farm Bill passed last month were being borne by 15 states that operate the "Heat and Eat" program, which coordinates energy assistance with SNAP...Under the program, some of the families that received as little as $1 in federal heating assistance saw increased SNAP benefits...Last month, Congress changed the rules, stipulating in the Farm Bill that a family would have to have at least $20 in heating assistance before receiving increased SNAP benefits."  And that's exactly what these governors have done.  Kudos and let's get the governors of the rest of the states affected by these cuts (see below) to act in a similar manner.

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart has a hilarious take down of Fox News' whining about food stamp recipients.  You can watch it here.

Obamacare
As the well-funded Republican right continues to pour millions into negative ad's against swing state Democratic Senators supportive of the Affordable Care Act and as the do-nothing House of Representatives vote yet again to defund or subvert the program, "Obamacare" enrollments are quietly growing.  As of February 1, enrollments in the Obamacare market place were nearly 3.3 million.  Also, according to ThinkProgress, in what it calls the woodwork effect,: "A new analysis by Avalere Health finds that the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment season is boosting Medicaid signups even in the states that have refused the health law’s optional Medicaid expansion...All told, between 2.4 million and 3.5 million of the poorest Americans started receiving Medicaid coverage for the first time during the first four months of Obamacare’s enrollment season."  So as of end January, there were an additional 6 million people with health insurance.

ACA proponents are not done yet.  MoveOn.org has mounted a campaign to get non-Medicaid-expansion states to change their decisions.  The advantages to the states seem to be coming more and more clear: "Faced with the prospect of tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, in federal funding, states are racing to find politically palatable ways to expand Medicaid. [Washington Post, March 4].  Even the brilliant op-ed writers for self-proclaimed "capitalist tool" Forbes are changing their tune.  Take a look at these two headlines:
Nov. 11 - "Obamacare Will Be Repealed Well In Advance Of The 2014 Elections"
Feb. 12 - "New Signup Numbers Show Why Obamacare May Be Impossible To Repeal"

But don't expect the right-wing to throw in the towel.  They will continue to spend tens of millions in negative ads even though as Kevin Drum wonders "whether there's a single genuine Obamacare horror story out there, given that virtually every yarn promoted by Republicans or conservatives about people hurt by the Affordable Care Act has deflated like a pricked balloon on the merest examination." [LA Times, Feb 20]


In the final set of rules published Wednesday, the Obama administration will "let people with health insurance plans that don't comply with Affordable Care Act standards keep them through October 2017 if their states allow it."  [CNBC, March 5]

The enrollment deadline - after which an individual without health care insurance may be subject to a fine - is March 31.  If you haven't got insurance yet, here's a link to healthcare.gov to help you get started. The site works.

Other info
"Those “heat and eat” states are: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin. Some lists compiled by non-profits lists add or subtract a state or two from that lineup." [Washington Post, Feb 5]

Finally, a couple of links from the Daily Kos website:

Minimum wage increase would cut food stamp costs beyond Republican's wildest dreams 
(based on a report by the Center for American Progress)

Obamacare boosting household income and  spending (based on an article that first appeared in the Wall Street Journal)

The cuts to SNAP delineated in the federal Farm Bill passed last month were being borne by 15 states that operate the "Heat and Eat" program, which coordinates energy assistance with SNAP. Both Pennsylvania and New Jersey are Heat and Eat states.
Under the program, some of the families that received as little as $1 in federal heating assistance saw increased SNAP benefits.
Last month, Congress changed the rules, stipulating in the Farm Bill that a family would have to have at least $20 in heating assistance before receiving increased SNAP benefits.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140306_In_surprising_move__Corbett_forestalls_deep_cuts_in_food_stamps.html#A2ZZrfpZ6fFPkBkp.99

The cuts to SNAP delineated in the federal Farm Bill passed last month were being borne by 15 states that operate the "Heat and Eat" program, which coordinates energy assistance with SNAP. Both Pennsylvania and New Jersey are Heat and Eat states.
Under the program, some of the families that received as little as $1 in federal heating assistance saw increased SNAP benefits.
Last month, Congress changed the rules, stipulating in the Farm Bill that a family would have to have at least $20 in heating assistance before receiving increased SNAP benefits.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140306_In_surprising_move__Corbett_forestalls_deep_cuts_in_food_stamps.html#A2ZZrfpZ6fFPkBkp.99

The cuts to SNAP delineated in the federal Farm Bill passed last month were being borne by 15 states that operate the "Heat and Eat" program, which coordinates energy assistance with SNAP. Both Pennsylvania and New Jersey are Heat and Eat states.
Under the program, some of the families that received as little as $1 in federal heating assistance saw increased SNAP benefits.
Last month, Congress changed the rules, stipulating in the Farm Bill that a family would have to have at least $20 in heating assistance before receiving increased SNAP benefits.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140306_In_surprising_move__Corbett_forestalls_deep_cuts_in_food_stamps.html#A2ZZrfpZ6fFPkBkp.99