Nebraska is the first state to obtain a federal waiver to prohibit the purchase of soda and energy drinks through the long-running food stamp program, which provides benefits to low-income Americans.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins made the announcement Monday, and it would impact approximately 152,000 Nebraskans who are enrolled in SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that helps families buy groceries.
“There’s absolutely zero reason for taxpayers to be subsidizing purchases of soda and energy drinks,” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen stated.
“SNAP is about helping families in need get healthy food into their diets, but there’s nothing nutritious about the junk we’re removing with today’s waiver.”
According to USDA, requests for waivers prohibiting specific foods and beverages or, in some situations, increasing participants’ access to hot foods have also been made by six additional states: Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, and West Virginia.
Rollins and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have made it a priority to push for the SNAP program to ban sugary drinks, candy, and other items.
The action on Monday was dubbed “a historic step to Make America Healthy again” by Rollins.
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There were no immediate details available regarding Nebraska’s waiver, which goes into effect on January 1. It has been criticized by anti-hunger activists who claim that it increases expenses, administrative burdens, and stigma for those who are already experiencing food insecurity.
Gina Plata-Nino, a deputy director at the Food Research & Action Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization, said the waiver “ignores decades of evidence showing that incentive-based approaches — not punitive restrictions — are the most effective, dignified path to improving nutrition and reducing hunger.”
The U.S. Agriculture Department oversees the roughly $100 billion SNAP program, which is administered by the states and benefits 42 million Americans.
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Legislators in a number of states have suggested over the past 20 years that SNAP should no longer cover items such as soda, bottled water, chips, ice cream, and “luxury meats” like steak.
USDA has so far denied the waivers, claiming that there are no precise criteria to determine what constitutes a good or bad food.
Furthermore, according to the agency, imposing restrictions would be challenging, expensive, and complicated, and they wouldn’t necessarily alter the food that recipients buy or lessen health issues like obesity.
