Latest / Chuck Douglas / State Senator Steve Huffman

Transcript

State Senator Steve Huffman · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Majority of this edition at the Power Hour likely will
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: be spent on a single topic. I posted something about
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: it on my Facebook page. Was it yesterday, either last
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: night or this morning? I get a good confew because
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm old and stuff, but it was sometime in the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: last twelve hours I had posted this. The governor has
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: put together a group, a commission, a or whatever to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: basically come up with an idea of game plans, some
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: parameters for the use of the snap EBT food stamp program.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the hell you're supposed to call
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  Speaker 1: it these days and using it to buy They're focusing
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  Speaker 1: you know, the headline's focused on sugary drinks, but I
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  Speaker 1: believe a large number of products are probably going to
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  Speaker 1: fall under this umbrella. Normally I have an immediate and
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  Speaker 1: definitive reaction to everything. In this case, not so much
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  Speaker 1: because I understand, and I understand the idealism of saying, look,
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  Speaker 1: you shouldn't be using this taxpayer funded nutrition program to
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  Speaker 1: buy crap for your kids. I get that. On the
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  Speaker 1: other hand, crap is cheaper, and sometimes full bellies matter
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  Speaker 1: more the nutritional value, especially if you've got a limited
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  Speaker 1: number of dollars to get you from day one to
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  Speaker 1: day thirty of each month, and you don't want to
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  Speaker 1: run out because you went to Whole Foods and the
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  Speaker 1: really you know, the the organic foods and all natural.
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  Speaker 1: Every day, the money doesn't last and so the kids
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  Speaker 1: end up hungry and you don't have food in the house.
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  Speaker 1: And so I see that side too. I feel like
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  Speaker 1: there's got to be some reasonable middle ground idea somewhere,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, for that, I try to go to
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  Speaker 1: reasonable middle ground own type of people within the Ohio legislature.
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  Speaker 1: One of them is State Senator Steve Huffman, who's joining
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  Speaker 1: us right now. And uh and Steve, first of all,
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  Speaker 1: thanks for making time. I appreciate you.
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  Speaker 2: Always glad to be on great to be in Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: Do you see my dilemma here? I mean, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: sure where where I come down, and I'm not used
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  Speaker 1: to that quite.
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  Speaker 2: Frankly, well, I think here there's one other aspect that
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  Speaker 2: you didn't mention. Is that that kid, that that young
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  Speaker 2: person who gets the sugary drinks to get the candy,
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  Speaker 2: the ho host the twinkies. You know, we're putting them
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  Speaker 2: down a path to continue that, and they become a
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  Speaker 2: diabetic and we're going to pay for them maybe later
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  Speaker 2: in life if they're on Medicaid because of their poor,
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  Speaker 2: poor eating habits, and so maybe if we get them earlier,
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  Speaker 2: maybe they don't become the diabetic, maybe they don't get
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  Speaker 2: high blood pressure. So there's another way that the government's
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  Speaker 2: going to save money and be cost effective with this.
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  Speaker 1: And before going into the political arena, you've got a
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  Speaker 1: medical background, right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, my medical degree, yep, So I.
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  Speaker 1: Kind of I guess I'm not surprised you come at
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  Speaker 1: at you know, thinking from that angle. Where have you
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  Speaker 1: already thought about this? I mean, is there is there
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  Speaker 1: a middle ground somewhere? Because obviously I agree with you.
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  Speaker 1: We want to keep kids healthier. We don't want a
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  Speaker 1: state full of diabetics, and lord knows their industries out
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  Speaker 1: there that want everybody to be diabetic these days. By
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  Speaker 1: the same token, I don't want them running out of
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  Speaker 1: food because the good nutritional stuff costs so much more
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  Speaker 1: than the potato chips in the soda pop.
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  Speaker 2: No, I don't disagree with you. I mean there's a
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  Speaker 2: fine balance here. But first off, we're in this position
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  Speaker 2: again by the absolute failure of the federal government is
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  Speaker 2: that they need to step up and say here's the parameters.
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  Speaker 2: You know, no sugary beverages or no cookies or what
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  Speaker 2: percent of sugar. But they don't. But you know that
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  Speaker 2: this Trump administration looks like they're going to allow for waivers,
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  Speaker 2: allow for states to do this. But it would be
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  Speaker 2: a lot easier for the states to say this is
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  Speaker 2: good and this is bad, or here's the parameters to
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  Speaker 2: give the states some direction.
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  Speaker 1: Am I insane in thinking? And I know this is
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  Speaker 1: completely out of the box, off the wall, and from
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  Speaker 1: the other side of the moon. But just as for
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  Speaker 1: so many years before they found out they could make
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  Speaker 1: money letting retailers do it, we had state stores for liquor.
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  Speaker 1: In the long run, if you look at the whole
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  Speaker 1: ball of wax, the healthcare calls, the continue the potential
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  Speaker 1: diabetes issues, all of that stuff, our state grocery locations
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  Speaker 1: out of the question as a way to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that people are getting good, wholesome, nutritious things. Could we
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  Speaker 1: see something like that or is that just completely off
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  Speaker 1: the wall?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think you're kind of off the wall because
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  Speaker 2: in uh my mind, there's nothing nothing the government can
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  Speaker 2: do that private industry can't do a lot better. So
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  Speaker 2: you know, there'd be a lot of costs and things
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  Speaker 2: like that. We wouldn't be run efficiently because it's the government.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, maybe we we limit it to certain
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  Speaker 2: items or exclude certain items to make it efficient.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess that's that's exactly where we are right now.
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  Speaker 1: This this commission or task force, whatever they're calling it
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  Speaker 1: that the governor is putting together. Is there an established timeline?
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  Speaker 1: Is this still in its infancy and we're we're going
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  Speaker 1: to decide what they're focusing on and when they'll be
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  Speaker 1: focused and and that kind of thing, or do we
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  Speaker 1: do we have kind of established timeline and what they
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  Speaker 1: need to do and when it needs to be done.
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  Speaker 2: They have a couple of months and that they're they're
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  Speaker 2: gonna they're gonna meet and have recommendations to the General
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  Speaker 2: Assembly on how to do this. And the governor has
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  Speaker 2: said that he alone, through medicaid, can't asked for a
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  Speaker 2: waiver ask the federal government to do this. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: to me, there's the balance because you know, cookies, twinkies, hohs,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of sugary stuff, but you look at some
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  Speaker 2: of the stuff that's that's called a protein bar man
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  Speaker 2: it sounds really good, but when you get down to it,
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  Speaker 2: it's got twenty five grams of of sugar.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, a lot of stuff that's And I found
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  Speaker 1: that out as you know, as somebody who was you know,
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be diabetic. And thank the Lord, I changed
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  Speaker 1: my diet and changed my weight and I got rid
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  Speaker 1: of all that crap. But things that I was consuming
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  Speaker 1: that I thought were good for me were I mean,
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  Speaker 1: Va Jew, Steve, do you know the carbohydrates in Va Jews?
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  Speaker 1: I should have just been drinking a coke. It was crazy,
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  Speaker 1: the things that you think are good for you. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm not an idiot. There are plenty of people out
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  Speaker 1: here who are far less educated, far less attached to
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  Speaker 1: reality than I. If I thought V eight was good
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  Speaker 1: for me, I can't imagine what people left to their
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  Speaker 1: own devices might consume thinking it's it's good stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the the added sugar and stuff like that is
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  Speaker 2: is is high, So you know, it's it's a balancing act.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that uh uh, you know, we'll we'll
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  Speaker 2: get someplace so that you know, you look at sugary drinks.
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  Speaker 2: Coke should be should we not allow coke? Well? Coke
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  Speaker 2: diet coke doesn't have any sugar in it, so should
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  Speaker 2: we allow that?
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  Speaker 1: There you go, see, there's there's the conundrum. And I mean,
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  Speaker 1: what about uh, I don't know, kool aid high See,
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  Speaker 1: you're the things that your kids traditionally drank. Is that
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  Speaker 1: going to be off limits too?
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  Speaker 2: Well? You know, I was thinking the other day, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the kool aid that we grew up with, where it
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  Speaker 2: had had a little bit of taste to it, and
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  Speaker 2: then you put on three cups of pure sugar. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and you mix that up. That couldn't have been good
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  Speaker 2: for your for long health.
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  Speaker 1: And you had the option back then too. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if you remember, but my mom sometimes would buy
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  Speaker 1: the sugar no sugar kool aid so she could mix
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  Speaker 1: in her own sugar, thinking she was benefiting us more
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  Speaker 1: than letting us get whatever they had put in it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that uh yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know that that worked out so well either,
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  Speaker 1: because I love my sugar to this day. I still do.
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  Speaker 1: And when you and I were conversing texting earlier, the
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  Speaker 1: idea of you know, I guess i'd call it fraud
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  Speaker 1: with the food stamp program, the SNAP program, that's something
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  Speaker 1: else that hopefully this Commission's going to address because when
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  Speaker 1: you what I've seen, you know, on my beloved West Side,
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  Speaker 1: I've seen this habit. You'll go into the carry out
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  Speaker 1: the corner store and you'll buy a frozen pizza, which
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  Speaker 1: is allowed, it's frozen food. But then they've got the
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  Speaker 1: microwave there at the corner store, so you have microwave
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  Speaker 1: and you heat, and you bought that with food stamps,
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  Speaker 1: which I don't know is such a great idea, and.
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  Speaker 2: People, yeah, you're right, I mean, I mean the medical
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  Speaker 2: the snap benefits are you cannot prepared by prepared food.
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  Speaker 2: You can't go to Kroger's or Giant Eagle and get
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  Speaker 2: the roasted chicken that's all ready to go. But I think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the state is looking at other types of
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  Speaker 2: rod in the sense that you know Senator Shay for
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  Speaker 2: a number of times has introduced to Bill put your
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  Speaker 2: picture on your food stamp card.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you brought that earlier, and I thought about that too.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's let's say a family is getting a food
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  Speaker 1: stamp and uh do you call it an account whatever
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  Speaker 1: you call it. Where so they've got a food stamp
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  Speaker 1: account and and mom has the food stamp card, but
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  Speaker 1: Dad has to stop and pick up groceries on the
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  Speaker 1: way home that night from work. But mom's pictures on
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  Speaker 1: would Dad have to have his own card? And is
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  Speaker 1: it going to cost us more to print a card
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  Speaker 1: with both of their pictures.
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  Speaker 2: There's some some provisions that Senator Schaffer had on those
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  Speaker 2: things that your you know, your eighty year old, ninety
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  Speaker 2: year old elderly mother, she does she never goes to
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  Speaker 2: the store, she doesn't get out, and you're the caretaker.
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  Speaker 2: There was going to be a process that the daughter,
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  Speaker 2: the son would be able to use that card. But
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  Speaker 2: you know, the part of the problem is, you know,
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  Speaker 2: but for you know, online there's communities out there where
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  Speaker 2: you know, you offer your your your food stamps for
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  Speaker 2: one hundred dollars for only fifty dollars and then you
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  Speaker 2: can go buy cigarettes or alcohol or other other things.
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  Speaker 1: People do that all the time. I see it all
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  Speaker 1: the time. It's disgusting that they will sell up and
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  Speaker 1: then then two weeks later they're popping up on some
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  Speaker 1: Facebook page or next door page or whatever, somebody donate
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  Speaker 1: us some food we had. Really, you sold your food
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  Speaker 1: stamps to get your your weed or whatever you bought
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  Speaker 1: with the cash now you want to get on here
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  Speaker 1: and get people to donate so you can have goties
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  Speaker 1: for your family. That's that's disgusting.
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  Speaker 2: Well, in the same too too is you know in
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  Speaker 2: your wallets you get a number of credit cards and
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  Speaker 2: there's a chip in there. We need to start putting
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  Speaker 2: the chip into the snap cards so that it's validated
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  Speaker 2: and we know who it is and where it is.
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  Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of fraud out there to
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  Speaker 2: duplicate those things. And you know when we looked at
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: that in the budget, there was it would be about
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  Speaker 2: five million dollars to over time, you know, they the
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  Speaker 2: cards turn over about every eighteen months. To not to
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  Speaker 2: do it all at once, you know, certainly would cut
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  Speaker 2: down on a lot of frauds in the system of
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  Speaker 2: the chip.
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  Speaker 1: The also and you see, this is another one of
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  Speaker 1: those conundrums, the reality versus idealists thing. But I was
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: looking at the parameters this year for the sales tax
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  Speaker 1: holiday and where you were talking about, you know, prohibiting
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  Speaker 1: some things from being about with a food stamp card.
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  Speaker 1: Sales tax holiday this year applies to restaurants, which is
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  Speaker 1: coming out of the same legislative mind that is going
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  Speaker 1: to bring. You see why I'm frowning right now, don't you?
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  Speaker 2: Yeh, yep.
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  Speaker 1: How does going out to dinner at a restaurant come
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  Speaker 1: under school supplies and tax freeze?
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  Speaker 2: Steve, Come on, that's a tough one. That's a tough one.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you know so much clothing, you need clothing,
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  Speaker 2: some school supplies and stuff, but you know, things up
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  Speaker 2: to five hundred dollars. But I certainly it was a
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  Speaker 2: way to get the money backs to the to the taxpayers,
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  Speaker 2: especially in lower incomes, because they're going to go out
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  Speaker 2: and you know, when school starts, they need these things,
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  Speaker 2: and it's a way to put it back into their pocket.