Lawmakers in Texas are considering new legislation that would ban people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from using their food stamps to buy junk food.
The bill seeks to add restrictions on SNAP so the benefits cannot be used to purchase items such as soda, energy drinks, candy, chips, and cookies.
Senate Bill 379 would ensure that recipients of SNAP funds, formerly known as food stamps, can only purchase nutritional groceries.
The bill was authored by Republican State Senator Mayes Middleton.
Middelton said he filed the legislation to return to SNAP’s original intent of focusing on nutritional food essential to health and well-being.
Similar bills with bipartisan support have been introduced in the Texas House.
H.B. 3188 was proposed by Democrat Rep. Richard Raymond, and H.B. 4970 was introduced by GOP Rep. Briscoe Cain.
The federal government, which provides all the taxpayer funding for SNAP, currently allows the program to be used for most food items.
Currently, it only excludes alcohol, tobacco, and hot prepared meals such as fast food.
Texas Republicans say S.B. 379 seeks to remove food and drinks with little nutritional value from the government assistance program.
“The [U.S. Department of Agriculture’s] stated purpose for the SNAP program is nutritious food essential to health and wellbeing,” Middleton said, according to FOX 4.
“Well, junk food certainly doesn’t fit that purpose.
“So having those types of foods and drinks qualified under the program is actually contrary to the entire purpose of the SNAP program, the food stamp program.”
Another federal program that provides food assistance for families, called the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), already excludes the purchase of junk food items.
Instead, the program focuses on providing healthy foods and nutrition education.
Critics of the Texas bill argue that people using SNAP should have the freedom to decide what foods are best for their families, however.
Opponents insist that taxpayer-funded food stamps should allow parents to buy treats for their children or for medical needs such as treating a blood sugar crash, FOX 4 reported.
Critics also claim there is a lack of access to grocery stores and say many people on the program rely on convenience stores where there are few healthy food options.
The state’s full Senate debated the bill on Monday.
It needs to pass the Upper Chamber before it can be sent to the House.
Meanwhile, a pair of bills were recently introduced in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate that would also prohibit the purchase of junk food using SNAP benefits.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also expressed his desire to restrict ultra-processed foods and additives.
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