Top Chef v. Heritage Policy Analyst: Stirring Up the Debate on Federal Welfare

Rachel Sheffield /

Last week, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Robert Rector went head to head with TV personality Tom Colicchio of Top Chef at a House Education and Labor Committee hearing, both testifying about proposed increases to federal funding for child nutrition. Unfortunately, unlike the television show that results in one contestant coming out on top, no one wins with this new policy.

The $8 billion bill claims to expand food assistance to low-income school children in order to fight hunger and prevent unhealthy eating. The more likely outcome, however, is simply the creation of yet another costly federal welfare program that will increase burden on taxpayers and grow government dependency—all at a time when the national debt is skyrocketing.

In his remarks to the committee, Chef Colicchio stated that passage of this bill would provide a great stimulus to the economy.

Rector, on the other hand, pointed out that the federal government already spends $30,000 per low-income household on welfare assistance each year. This includes money that goes towards a myriad of government food assistance programs, such as Food Stamps, the School Breakfast program, the School Lunch program, the WIC (Women, Infant and Children) program, the Child Care Food Program, the Nutrition Program for the Elderly, the Summer Food Service Program, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program; TEFAP (the Emergency Food Assistance Program), the Needy Families food program, the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, and the Special Milk Program. The total cost of these programs (not counting state money): $59.2 million in fiscal year 2008 alone. (more…)