Summary
Trump administration officials have signaled they want to limit certain foods and drinks eligible for purchase with federal SNAP benefits, arguing that the program should focus on nutrition rather than subsidizing less healthy choices. The proposals come as newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have both pointed to sugary drinks and candy as targets for possible policy change.
Kennedy has been the most vocal, calling for the federal government to stop allowing the nearly $113 billion SNAP program—which serves about 42 million Americans—to be used to pay for what he described as “soda or processed foods.” In remarks to Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Kennedy tied the policy to the question of whether the government should help pay for foods and drinks he said are harmful, including what he described as “poison.”
Rollins, in one of her first interviews after being confirmed, said she looked forward to working with Kennedy on the issue. She asked whether “a taxpayer is putting money into SNAP” would be “OK with us using their tax dollars to feed really bad food and sugary drinks,” particularly for “children who perhaps need something more nutritious,” adding that officials plan to examine “massive questions” about SNAP purchases in the coming months and years.
Policy changes to exclude categories of food from SNAP are not straightforward, experts said, in part because SNAP is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered through individual states. Federal law authorizes SNAP benefits to be used for “any food or food product intended for human consumption,” with specific exclusions that include alcohol, tobacco and hot foods meant for immediate consumption. That broader “any food” language is part of what makes excluding items such as sugary drinks, candy, chips or other products difficult without revising the underlying statute or obtaining permission for state-level restrictions.
Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said restrictions would require Congress to change the law or for states to obtain waivers that would let them restrict what SNAP benefits can buy. Over the past 20 years, she said, lawmakers in multiple states have proposed stopping SNAP from paying for products including bottled water, soda, chips, ice cream, decorated cakes and “luxury meats” such as steak, but none of those requests had been approved under either Republican or Democratic presidents.
Bergh also pointed to reasons the Agriculture Department has previously given for rejecting state waiver requests, including the lack of clear standards to define foods as “good or bad, or healthy or not healthy.” In earlier federal documents, the department has also said implementing restrictions would be complicated and costly, and that it might not change recipients’ food purchasing or reduce health conditions such as obesity.
Other advocates argue that restricting purchases would amount to benefit cuts in practice and would risk stigmatizing people who rely on SNAP. Gina Plata-Nino, a deputy director at the Food Research and Action Center, said such proposals are “just another way to cut benefits,” describing the approach as “like, how do we restrict people more? How do we stigmatize them more?” She framed the issue around SNAP recipients’ limited budgets, saying recipients receive on average about $187 per month, or about $6.16 per day, according to the latest figures described in the reporting.
At the same time, advocates for restrictions point to efforts they say reflect concerns about diet quality and health risks. Bills are pending in Congress and in several states that would limit SNAP benefits from paying for items such as soda, candy and other products, with examples including an Oklahoma proposal sponsored by Rep. Josh Breechan, who said in remarks included in the report, “If someone wants to buy junk food on their own dime, that’s up to them,” while adding, “But what we’re saying is, ‘Don’t ask the taxpayer to pay for it and then also expect the taxpayer to pick up the tab for the resulting health consequences.’”
The reporting also described how definitions in proposed state limits can create practical exceptions. In Kansas and elsewhere, some pending bills would aim at soft drinks and candy while continuing to allow drinks containing milk or milk alternatives such as soy or almond milk, as well as drinks with more than 50% vegetable or fruit juice. Candy, by the described definition, would cover certain unrefrigerated, flourless preparations of “sugar, honey or other natural or artificial sweeteners” in combination with ingredients such as chocolate or nuts, but that definition could mean some items like Kit Kat and Twix bars would not be banned because they contain flour, and juices with high sugar content could remain eligible depending on the fruit-or-vegetable proportion.
A physician and policy expert said the momentum behind Kennedy’s broader health push could create a different pathway for SNAP rules, while still requiring detailed implementation planning. Dr. Anand Parekh, chief medical officer of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said, “When we talk about the SNAP program, we have to remind people that the ‘N’ stands for nutrition,” and argued that there is room for solutions that improve diet quality, adding that “it’s about time that both parties can come together and see what are the innovations here to improve diet quality and nutrition.”
For people who use SNAP benefits, the discussion can turn on how the program fits into daily food needs. The report included the account of Martina Santos, 66, of New York City, who described using SNAP benefits to buy necessities such as meat, oil, milk and coffee and supplementing with fresh fruits and vegetables from a pantry run by the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, where she also volunteers. Because she has diabetes and other health conditions, Santos said she understands the importance of using benefits for healthier options, describing her view of SNAP as a way to “get people to avoid all the disease they’re having around right now: obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure.”
Associated Press video journalist Mary Conlon contributed to this report.
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