Cory Booker Plans to Live Off Food Stamps for One Week
Lets you and I try to live on food stamps in New Jersey (high cost of living) and feed a family for a week or month. U game?@mwadenc
-- Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) November 19, 2012
Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker plans to live off food stamps for one week. Booker's decision came by way of a challenge after Twitter user "Twitwit" told him that "nutrition is not a responsibility of the government."
Booker made the announcement on Twitter after an exchange with a self-described "Daughter of the American Revolution (DAR), fighting against any and all forms of socialism/communism."
Booker responded to "Twitwit" and challenged her to see if they could both live off food stamps for a week. "Lets you and I try to live on food stamps in New Jersey (high cost of living) and feed a family for a week or month. U game?"
CBS News has more details:
Booker eventually challenged "Twitwit" to experience what people on food stamps are going through. "Lets you and I try to live on food stamps in New Jersey (high cost of living) and feed a family for a week or month. U game?" After "Twitwit" - the aforementioned Daughter of the American Revolution who identifies as an "Army Veteran, Army Daughter, Army Wife" - said yes, Booker wrote, "We will have to get a referee - DM me your number so we can see if we can work out details." He also tweeted, "Lets film it and see how we do."
"Twitwit" said Monday she has not yet heard from the mayor. "I havent received any information from the Mayor re: the challenge..," she tweeted. But Booker appeared to be working on making arrangements. The University of Bridgeport in Connecticut already had a food stamp challenge in the works for early December, and it offered to referee for Booker and provide rules; via his Twitter account Monday afternoon, Booker asked the university to send him a phone number so he can call to get the details.
The food stamp program is now known as "SNAP," or The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and it says it puts "healthy food on the table for more than 46 million people each month." The University of Bridgeport's "SNAP Food Challenge," which takes place from December 2-9, encourages people to "find out the challenges of living on the same budget as those who receive the SNAP Food Benefit."
The rules mandate that only $35 be spent per person for the week on food, and that all food purchased or eaten during the week be included in that total spending.
In other news: In response to Booker's pledge to accept the food-stamp challenge Fox News pundit Andrea Tantaros mocked the mayor's plans and claimed that she would "look fabulous" if she were forced to live on a food stamp diet.