Even though SNAP benefits, known colloquially as “food stamps,” have a fraud rate of around 1%, many legislators have made it a mission to find and punish those they feel are fraudulently seeking assistance.
Beginning with President Ronald Reagan’s campaign against “welfare queens” and continuing with almost every administration since, receiving SNAP benefits has become a significantly more difficult and time-consuming process over the years.
This has led to those receiving the benefits being asked to jump through numerous hoops to prove that they still require assistance—only to receive benefits that are increasingly at risk of being stolen by malicious actors.
Now, a user on TikTok has gone viral after calling out what she perceives to be the ridiculousness of the current system.
“If yall dont think i deserve them just say that,” writes TikTok user Totsionna (@wesickandtired) in the caption of the video, which currently has over 1.8 million views as of Sunday morning.
@wesickandtired If yall dont think i deserve them just say that #fyp #governmentassistance #foodstamps #hardtimes ♬ original sound –
“It takes too much to keep these food stamps,” she says in the video. “Why do y’all keep sending me this paper asking me if anything’s changed? No! I still have negative zero dollars to my name. I still don’t have a job.”
“I don’t even have a pen to fill this out and send it back,” she jokes later in the video. “And how am I going to bring it with no car? I gotta walk this all the way to y’all’s building. By the time I get there, y’all are gonna cut the food stamps off.”
In the comments section, many users pointed out the various issues with the SNAP benefits program.
“The way food stamps had me staying just broke enough to still be eligible was crazy,” said a user. “Scared to accept new jobs cause even though it was higher pay…”
This user is referring to an issue in which someone starts making too much money to be eligible for SNAP benefits, though not enough money to make up for the amount they lost through those benefits being cut off.
“They send the letter in the mail, letter doesn’t arrive to my house until 2 days before it’s all due,” added another. “Can’t win with them.”
“And they want proof of every bill which are all electronic, so now I have to go somewhere and pay to get everything printed out smh,” observed a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to Totsionna via email.