For as long as I can remember, Republicans have tried to end the ridiculous SNAP benefit that allows recipients to purchase candy, sugary drinks, and junk food on the taxpayer’s dime. President Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the MAHA movement are working to put an end to that portion of the program. Historically, any change Republicans have tried to make to the food stamps program, Democrats would get real dramatic and say Republicans are taking food out of the mouths of children. Of course, that was never true. The American taxpayer should never fund waste fraud and abuse in any government program—certainly, paying for harmful foods and drinks for the most susceptible Americans falls into that category.
This week, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, announced the new change to the benefits program. During a press conference surrounding the announcement, Secretary Rollins outlined the overall importance of this change:
“Since my confirmation, our department has encouraged states to think differently and creatively about how to solve the many health issues facing Americans. One way is by not allowing taxpayer funded benefits to be used to purchase unhealthy items like soda, candy, and other junk food. The number one purchase by SNAP recipients is sugary drinks. SNAP is a supplemental nutrition program meant to provide health food benefits to low income families to supplement their grocery budget, so that they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and wellbeing. That is the stated purpose of the SNAP program. The law states it and President Trump's USDA plans to deliver on it, alongside our partners at HHS.”
Rollins goes on to explain that she has signed six more waivers giving states the ability to remove these unhealthy items from SNAP benefits in their state—these are in addition to several state waivers that have already been signed. These waivers are a huge win from the Trump administration, directly benefiting every taxpayer.
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The SNAP benefits program over the years has been a leviathan for the Republican Party. During the same press conference, RFK Jr. expounded briefly (albeit maybe unbeknownst to him) on the cost and difficulty of why it has been so hard to remove these items. Frankly, the lobbying effort by major snack corporations to keep these benefits has harmed millions of low income Americans over the program's history. Secretary Kennedy said it this way:
“We are spending $405 MILLION a day on SNAP.. 10% is going to sugary drinks. If you add candies to that, it's about 13 to 17%. We all believe in free choice. We live in a democracy. People can make their own choice about what they are going to buy and what they are not going to buy. If you want to buy a sugary soda, you should be able to do that, but the U.S. taxpayer should not pay for it. U.S. taxpayer should not be paying to feed kids foods, the poorest kids in the country, foods that will give them diabetes. And then, my agency ends up, through Medicaid and Medicare, paying for those injuries. We’re going to put an end to that. We’re doing it step by step, state by state.”
Wow, there’s a lot here in such a short monologue. First, Secretary Kennedy starts with one of the most difficult portions in the fight to get these benefits removed—the money. Corporate lobbyists have successfully fought to keep these benefits available to recipients on the taxpayer dime. 10% of SNAP benefits alone got to sugary drinks every day. That’s a lot of guaranteed money that goes to these companies everyday. Secondly, as mentioned, we all believe in free choice, but there’s no world where taxpayer dollars should be used to harm the most vulnerable among us. Diabetes is a lifelong battle for millions of Americans, we should all be working together to protect our kids. Third, Secretary Kennedy hits another hidden portion of the cost to taxpayers—Medicaid and Medicare. Due to the eating habits the SNAP program creates, eating extremely unhealthy food every day, the health problems created by these foods ends up costing the American people.
The American people are essentially paying to create unhealthy eating habits through free junk food across the SNAP program, and then paying on the backend for the health issues it causes. Thankfully, the Trump administration and the MAHA movement are beginning to end this cycle through state waivers to remove this garbage. Winning? I’m not tired, are you?
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