When suggestions for changes to the SNAP program are made, particularly regarding restrictions on what can be bought with it, the left often argues that individuals should have the freedom to choose their own food without interference. However, it is important to remember that if taxpayer money is funding these purchases, there is a legitimate concern about what is being bought.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has now adopted that position. She has reached out to the incoming Trump administration heads of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to see what can be done to end the purchase of junk food using these taxpayer-funded benefits. This is a long-overdue move.
Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has sent a letter to the incoming Trump administration heads of the Health and Agriculture departments, calling for the end of junk food as part of the federal food stamp program.
“As you know, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a $113 billion federal program designed to support low income families with food assistance,” Sanders wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital to HHS Secretary-nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary-nominee Brooke Rollins. “Unfortunately, this ‘Nutrition Assistance’ program is undermining the health of millions of Americans, on the taxpayers’ dime, by encouraging families to eat highly processed, unhealthy junk food.”
“In fact, soda, unhealthy snacks, candy, and dessert account for nearly 23 percent, or $25 billion, of all SNAP purchases. Given the relationship between junk food and poor health, our federal food assistance policies are fueling obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and a wide range of chronic health conditions around America.”
It is belaboring the obvious to point out that these benefits are intended for nutrition. It is called, after all, the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” not the “Supplemental Junk Food Assistance Program.” Furthermore, this isn’t just a matter of the taxpayer’s money being wasted; it’s a matter of public health. This kind of restriction could really be a key part of “Make America Healthy Again.”
Sanders cited the work of Stanford University Professor Jayanta Bhattacharya, to head the National Institutes of Health, which concluded that removing sugary drinks and snacks from the SNAP program would prevent obesity in 141,000 children and Type 2 diabetes in 240,000 adults.
This is a system in serious need of reform and would make another great target for the DOGE.
