Monday, March 26, 2018

Woman Alleges She Received Trump Administration's 'Harvest Box', Says It's Filled with Inedible Items



Warning: This video contains strong language. 

By Gary Glennell Toms 

A Facebook video, which was originally published on YouTube on March 11, 2018,  was forwarded to "From The G-Man" with a request to investigate its authenticity.

The video, which features an unnamed woman angrily discussing the contents of a "Harvest box" that was allegedly delivered by UPS, has fueled debate among viewers about the Trump administration's effort to significantly scale back the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and restructure the food stamp program.

Additionally, the USDA label is clearly displayed on several of the delivered items. A label with an alleged UPS tracking number and a UPS Ground label notification are also visible. "Trump ain't playing. He ain't playing. Look at this shit here, y'all," the woman exclaimed in disgust.

In a recent New York Times report, Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said, “I don’t think there’s really any support for their box plan. And, I worry that it’s a distraction from the budget’s proposal to cut SNAP by some 30 percent. That’s the real battle. The dangers are these other proposals to cut benefits. But all anyone is talking about today are the boxes.”

The Times report also noted that "Senator Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the agriculture committee, doubted the motives behind the plan." Like Dean, Stabenow believed the proposal was nothing more than "a distraction".

According to the woman in the video, the Trump administration is very serious about the plan and has officially enacted it. "Look at this! So, this is what he's going to replace our food stamps with. Okay?"

From The G-Man forwarded the video to UPS World Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and asked the company to confirm the alleged USDA-sanctioned delivery, when the deliveries started, and whether the boxes were being delivered nationwide or to specific locations. In an email statement, Matthew O'Connor, Senior Manager of Public Relations, said "the federal government is a UPS customer, but we do not disclose information about customer shipments."

O'Connor was also asked to confirm the validity of the tracking number label and ground label. He could not confirm the authenticity of the tracking number label, but he did say "a package appeared to have a UPS Ground label." 

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