Posted on 03/26/2025 11:00:17 AM PDT by RandFan
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) proposed legislation on Tuesday, the Nutritious SNAP Act, aimed at reforming SNAP to ensure that those who use it are doing so for healthy food options.
Paul’s office issued a release on Tuesday asserting that SNAP has been a contributing factor “in a new public health crisis — obesity and chronic disease — by subsidizing the purchase of junk food with taxpayer dollars.”
“SNAP was designed to fight hunger and improve nutrition — not to subsidize soda and junk food,” Paul said. “It makes no sense that taxpayer dollars are being used to fund an epidemic of obesity and diet-related illness in low-income communities. My bill ensures that this assistance program actually supports health and wellness, not chronic disease.”
Over 42 million people in the country are registered for SNAP benefits, according to the release.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
ping
This isn’t even small ball, it’s microscopic ball. But I think the true reason why this GOP Senator wants to focus on this issue is to try to alienate minority voters which now make up a big part of Trump’s winning coalition.
You have to start somewhere
“It makes no sense that taxpayer dollars are being used to fund an epidemic of obesity and diet-related illness in low-income communities.”
Well it DOES to the LOBBYISTS for Big Pharma and the CONGRESS Critters benefiting through said Lobbyists! *SPIT*
They need to include remedial cooking classes, too! I’ve tried many times to give FREE produce to Food Pantries. They don’t want it as people using their services don’t know what to do with it!
Sad state of affairs. :(
How sad. Is that a local thing? I live in Alabama, and our local food pantries are happy to accept produce.
“”””Paul’s Nutritious SNAP Act would restrict funds from purchasing unhealthy dietary items, such as brownie mixes, cakes, desserts, potato chips, snack foods, and sodas. All beverage purchases would be limited to cow’s milk, healthy dairy alternatives, drinks that contain 100% fruit or vegetable juices, and water, according to Paul’s release.””””
This looks a lot worse in print than it does in general conversation, it looks like a controlling mess.
I’ve tried to donate in Dane County - The ‘Berkley’ of Wisconsin. So, it could just be a local thing.
As of February, 2025, 704,000+ people in Wisconsin ALONE are using SNAP. (They call it, ‘Food Share.’)
https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/foodshare/individual-summary.htm
i believe back in the seventies, the thinking was, government should not tell people what they can eat, and allowed the snap approved menues, but made a lot of purchases unrestricted.
Here in California people using EBT can purchase fast food with them. How ridiculous and counter productive allowing low income people on welfare to eat unhealthy stuff that can end up costing us more when their health goes south.
Around here, the food pantries only accept nonperishables, such as canned goods, because they cannot store perishable foods. However, some church ministries will take bread and produce. Or, at least, they did... before 2020. I don't know whether they still do.
I think that in many states, they can also get “cash back” on some purchases. Not 100% sure. Also, I would love to see some coordination to see that SNAP benefits are adjusted downward for those whose children are receiving 2-3 free meals per day at their schools.
I believe it.
not good enough ... should list what CAN be purchased rather than what can’t be purchased ... crap food outnumbers nutritious food by an order of magnitude and manufacturers will always find ways around a “CAN’T” list ...
the only thing that will work is a list of foods that are SNAP eligible, though no SNAP reform bill will ever pass Congress since all put a handful are bought and owned by some portion of the food industry ...
at any rate, here’s my own personal SNAP reform list:
meat and seafood in all forms (excluding added sweetener forms)
all forms of legumes (excluding added sweetener forms)
vegetables and fruits in all forms (excluding added sweetener forms as well as all fruit juice)
all WHOLE grains (excluding added sweetener forms)
milk and milk products in all forms (excluding added sweetener forms)
eggs in all forms
seed and corn flour bread, both risen and flat in all forms (excluding all fried forms such as chips, as well as all added sweetener forms, except only the amounts necessary for yeast-rising breads)
all nuts (excluding added sweetener forms)
cooking oils and fats (excluding semi-synthetic forms such as anything made with hydrogenated oils)
baking supplies and seasonings, excluding sugar and other sweeteners
[note that nothing prohibits the purchase of items NOT on the list as long as SNAP isn’t being used to pay for the excluded items]
“fruit or vegetable juices”
Fruit juice normally contains fructose.
High fructose corn syrup contains fructose.
I consider a juice like V-8 or orange juice a luxury item.
The only beverage that SNAP should cover is cow’s milk and only because it has vitamin D and people of color may not get enough vitamin D from the sun in wintertime.
I now consider beef a luxury item.
I’ve considered fish a luxury item for decades.
One hundred percent porcine and chicken products only.
SNAP is about keeping people fed.
agree, except I think snap should cover drinkable water too.
They need to bring back the generic brand, or if not, just use the store brand as acceptable for Snap benefits.
There’s little need to buy name-brand green beans for instance, when the store brand is just fine in most cases. Heck, there’s always Aldi’s if you want to stretch your dollar (or would that be my/your dollar in the case of Snap beneficiaries).
Those huge refrigerators are NOT cheap, so I can see why they opt for non-perishables only.
Today I am fertilizing and pruning our fruit trees. I know WE won’t be going hungry this year, and we’re not part of the problem, either.
I’m TRYING to be part of the solution, but that doesn’t seem to always work out, either! ;)
My mother didn’t come close to having money for oranges, much less orange juice but when you are talking liquids don’t overlook the huge portion of Americans who live in the desert and other hot areas, they buy bottled water because it is convenient and encourages drinking it, sometimes because local water is terrible (truly terrible), and for a big reason, to have a lot of water in the house, which in the desert can be important.
In hot climates drinking all day is common so bottled water is everywhere, and kids have to be tricked into drinking with flavored drinks of all types, in hot areas drinking 1.5 gallons is not such a big deal as it might be in some places.
The government might find it difficult to micro manage American’s choices down to these levels.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.