A U.S. House bill introduced earlier this month would bar those on food stamps from using them to buy soft drinks, candy and more.
Rep. Josh Brecheen, an Oklahoma Republican, sponsored the Healthy SNAP Act on Jan. 16. The bill would exclude junk food from benefits provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — the official name for food stamps — while requiring any SNAP-eligible foods to “promote the health of SNAP recipients and reflect nutrition science, public health concerns, and cultural eating patterns.”
About 850,000 Marylanders use SNAP, according to the Maryland Department of Human Services.
“If someone wants to buy junk food on their own dime, that’s up to them,” Breechen said. “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.”
Specifically, Brecheen’s bill would exclude soft drinks, ice cream, prepared desserts such as cakes, pies and cookies and other similar foods. About 20% of SNAP benefits currently are used to purchase junk foods and sugary drinks, according to a fact sheet accompanying the legislation.
SNAP benefits may be used to buy fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, bread, cereal, snack foods and non-alcoholic beverages. They cannot be used to buy items like alcohol, tobacco, vitamins and pet food.
Breechen noted that Trump cabinet picks such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who has vowed to “make America healthy again” — have advocated excluding junk food from SNAP benefits.
In 2024, Rubio and Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, led a bipartisan effort seeking to allow the government to collect more data on SNAP purchases. Their effort was designed to “improve nutrition security and diet quality” to better inform Congress in setting policies for SNAP benefits. Booker and Rubio said in a joint statement at the time that poor nutrition is the leading factor for chronic disease.
“SNAP plays a crucial role in alleviating poverty and food insecurity, but needs to do better at improving nutrition security and diet quality for program participants,” Booker said in a July statement.
Breechen’s bill to reform SNAP has support from a wide swath of Republicans — mostly representing southern states.
Similar bills have been introduced in the past and gone nowhere, but this year Republicans hold both chambers of Congress and the White House. That gives them better odds of passing changes to SNAP than in past sessions.
