Rep. Brecheen Pushes To Disqualify Some Items From SNAP Benefits

As Congress gets ready to renew funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest federal food assistance program, one of Oklahoma’s members is leading a push to take unhealthy food and drink choices off the menu.

As most of the nation's 40 million SNAP beneficiaries likely know, the program formerly known as Food Stamps currently prohibits the purchase of alcohol, tobacco products, vitamins, and any foods that are hot at the point of purchase. Oklahoma Congressman Josh Brecheen believes the time has come to add to that list.

"You have to ask yourself, is a soft drink--something that has no nutritional value--something that the taxpayer needs to be paying for?" asked Rep. Brecheen rhetorically during a recent interview.

Congressman Brecheen said, no, and under his Healthy SNAP Act, soft drinks, as well as ice cream, candy and prepared desserts would join that list of prohibited items.

"We are not telling you what you can or can’t eat on your own dime," Brecheen (R-OK2) reassured, "but is it wise for the American taxpayer, spending billions of dollars every year -- 20 percent of the food stamp allocation going to junk foods -- is that wise, when we’re paying for it through Medicare and Medicaid expenses, the results of unhealthy lifestyles."

Indeed, concerns with rising obesity rates and related healthcare costs have led numerous states in recent years to request the ability to exclude low- or no-nutrition foods from SNAP, but the USDA has denied them, citing added administrative costs for retailers, difficulty in deciding which items to exclude, and lack of evidence that such bans will yield meaningful health outcomes.

But Brecheen said similar restrictions are already in place in another federal food assistance program.

"[The] Women Infant Children Program, the WIC Program," said Brecheen. "For years we've said we're going to utilize that program for nutrition--nutrition-based products."

Roughly two percent of Oklahomans (90,000) were enrolled in WIC in 2022, while 17 percent (nearly 700,000) participated in SNAP in the most recent count. While there is certainly some overlap in the populations of the two programs, they have different goals, and putting new restrictions on SNAP purchases would impact many more people, leaving them with less choice in deciding how to feed themselves and their families.

But Brecheen said what he's advocating is the healthy choice, both physiologically and financially.

"It’s reasonable to say the taxpayer that’s funding Food Stamps is willing to fund nutritious programming," said Brecheen, "but not something that’s going to be leading to a person's unhealthy state of affairs."

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is the lead sponsor of the companion bill in the Senate.