Don't like food stamp allowable lists? Forget food stamps then. There should just be a cafeteria where they can get food. Plain sustenance food, and plenty of it. Nobody should go hungry.
And nobody should waste my sustenance. Absolutely there should be a list of allowed goods purchasable with food stamps. And the penalty for repeated violation should be no more food stamps - either as a recipient or as a store. If I'm helping somebody, I get to set the terms.
And there should not be any school vouchers beyond what the non-local gov't would pay anyway. Non-local gov't has no business taking or providing money for school. You use my money? I get a voice. As long as they take my money I will fight just like any rational actor to leverage their action to my intended outcome as much as possible.
Research? Sounds like it is finally getting back to normal after the distortions in the last half of the 20th century. If you pay for it, you can choose it. If YOU don't like what THEY spend THEIR money on, YOU should pay for what YOU like using YOUR money.
If you want to give larger handouts, then you give them. As long as you force me to give them, you have to take what you get.