The Newark mayor will live on food stamps for a week.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is one of the political world's most prolific tweeters. Now, thanks to his penchant for the social media network, he is set to participate in a post-Thanksgiving challenge to live on food stamps for a week.
It started Sunday, when Booker got into a debate about government responsibility. After tweeting the Greek quotation, "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics," a follower accused him of wanting to redistribute wealth. Another wrote that "nutrition is not a responsibility of the government."
Booker, who noted that there's a shared responsibility to ensure that "kids go to school nutritionally ready 2 learn," issued a challenge to the second tweeter.
"Lets you and I try to live on food stamps in New Jersey (high cost of living) and feed a family for a week or month. U game?" he tweeted.
So, now it's on. The University of Bridgeport, which is holding a food stamps challenge in December, offered, via Twitter, of course, to referee.
According to the rules it has stipulated, each person has a total budget of $35 to spend on food and beverages, which is $5 per day or $1.66 per meal. They also can't accept food from outside sources, such as family, friends and work, and cannot use food that's already in the home, excluding condiments and spices.
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(Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
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