Do You Want Federal Assistance With That?

According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is lobbying to allow Kentucky locations of their restaurants to accept food stamps.

While the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (which is the formal name for the food stamps program) is a federal program, there is a provision in the law that allows states to decide if their elderly, disabled or homeless residents can use them in restaurants.

If the proposal were to go into effect, Kentucky would be the fourth state in the U.S. to allow such purchases, along with Arizona, Michigan and California.

Kitchen Substitute

Yum! Brands representatives stress that their goal is to provide a hot meal to those who can't make one in their own homes, but opponents of the bill contest that claim.

Rev. Gerome Sutton, the leader of the African American Think Tank, told the Courier-Journal that the proposal stands to drive up costs of healthcare in the state rather than make a real difference for the hungry.

"If Yum really wants to help," he told the paper, "they should create a restaurant with only healthy food.

Bad Rap In The Bluegrass State

Louisville has been trying to make a change to its unhealthy reputation with recent pushes and grant money to construct new bike lanes and encourage after-work adult fitness programs.

Nevertheless, as one of the largest cities in America's seventh most overweight state, nearly six in ten of the city's residents are considered seriously overweight.

Read More:

• A City Tries To Slim Down (New York Times)
• Western Louisville Group Opposes Changing Food Stamp Program (Louisville Courier-Journal)