WV House committee considers ‘Make America Healthy Again' bill restricting SNAP purchases

Yahoo

19-02-2025

Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, the lead sponsor of a bill that would prohibit the purchase of soft drinks and candy with SNAP benefits, speaks to the House Committee on Health and Human Resources Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, in Charleston, W.Va. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
A West Virginia House of Delegates committee is considering legislation that would prohibit recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, from using their benefits to purchase soft drinks and candy.
House Bill 2350, and similar legislation around the country, is part of an effort promoted by the Trump administration and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to 'Make America Healthy Again.'
The bill was before the Committee on Health and Human Resources for a hearing on Tuesday.
It would require the cabinet secretary for the Department of Human Services to request a federal waiver to prohibit the purchase of candy and soft drinks with SNAP benefits. If the waiver is not granted, the bill says the secretary would ask for such a waiver annually until the waiver is granted.
Bill sponsor Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, said the legislation is meant to promote healthy options for SNAP recipients.
More than 144,000 West Virginia households got SNAP benefits in December 2024, according to the state Bureau for Family Assistance.
Opponents of the bill say the legislation would have a negative effect on the state's grocery stories, particularly in counties that border other states.
Facing restrictions in West Virginia, SNAP recipients who live near the state's borders are likely to drive across state lines to use their benefits, said Seth DiStefano, policy outreach director for the Center on Budget and Policy.
'The direct result — long story short, is that grocery stores close,' he said. 'And grocery stores closing is very bad for the health of an entire community. Food deserts get worse. Options become less.'
Restrictions and 'poverty shaming' won't improve health, he said.
'The only real impact so far as I could tell is that it's going to put a lot of folks in those border counties, it's going to give them a choice,' DiStefano said. 'Do I want to sit in line and be embarrassed when I get into a back and forth with a cashier who may not have coded something correctly with my kid in line? Or do I take my business across the river to Gallipolis or Belpre or Steubenville or Hagerstown or any myriad of towns where folks just simply don't have to deal with the administrative hassle and the increased embarrassment and stigma that a bill like this puts on them?'
Burkhammer responded to concerns about the bill's economic impact by saying that poor health has an economic impact as well.
'I would say that there is a continued economic negative impact if we continue to fuel childhood diabetes, diabetes and so forth with that,' he said. 'So I understand that concept and I understand we're a body that has to consider the financial impact on every decision almost that we make and this is one of those that I was willing to make that financial decision to say the health and the wellbeing of our state and our communities is greater than the financial risk that is potential.'
He added that SNAP recipients still have the option to purchase candy and soft drinks with their own money.
Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, raised concerns about the definition of candy and soft drinks in the bill.
According to the bill, soft drinks are 'nonalcoholic beverages that contain natural or artificial sweeteners. Soft drinks do not include beverages containing milk or milk products, soy, rice or similar milk substitutes or greater than 50% of vegetable or fruit juice by volume.
Candy, according to the bill, means 'a preparation of sugar, honey or other natural or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops or pieces.' It does not include any preparation containing flour and does not require refrigeration.
Burkhammer said a forthcoming committee substitute would allow the cabinet secretary to define candy and soft drinks.
The bill did not include a cost estimate as of Wednesday.
Kennedy suggested banning soda and candy purchases by the SNAP program during an interview last week with Fox News, Forbes reported.
'The one place that I would say that we need to really change policy is the SNAP program and food stamps and in school lunches,' Kennedy told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. 'There, the federal government in many cases is paying for it. And we shouldn't be subsidizing people to eat poison.'
The bill and others like it around the country are supported by the Opportunity Solutions Project, a partner organization to the conservative group Foundation for Government Accountability.
Jeremiah Samples, the former deputy secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Resources who is now a lobbyist for the Opportunity Solutions Project, spoke in support of the legislation.
'[The bill] really starts a dialogue between the states and the federal government, which we now have a partner in the Trump administration to really address these issues to tackle what everyone knows and recognizes is a major problem in what is called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,' he said. 'Nutrition. We have lost the nutrition part of the SNAP program.'
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