On a voice vote Wednesday, minority-party Democrats deleted from the annual USDA-FDA funding bill a pilot project to block SNAP recipients from buying “unhealthy foods.” Democratic members of the House Appropriations Committee said the pilot project, authored by Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, was paternalistic and impractical.
“We want to tell a mom how to spend $6 a day,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat, referring to the daily per person SNAP benefit. A string of Democrats spoke against the five-state, three-year SNAP Choice pilot program.
The Appropriations Committee approved the USDA-FDA bill on a 29-26 vote that broke along party lines after three and a half hours of debate. The $210 billion bill included $6.75 billion for the FDA and $345 million for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It bars USDA enforcement of regulations intended to improve competition in livestock marketing, cuts funding for the Food for Peace program by $619 million, and elevates federal scrutiny of the purchase of agricultural land and businesses by foreigners and particularly by people from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
Rep. Sanford Bishop, Georgia Democrat, thrust his arm in the air in victory when Appropriations Committee chairman Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican, said his amendment to remove the pilot project from the bill had prevailed on a voice vote. Harris, who also proposed the pilot last year, waved away the opportunity to ask for a roll call vote.
“This is about practicality,” said Bishop, who cited opposition to the plan by grocers, who would have to enforce the restrictions. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut Democrat, said the pilot project would place “paternalistic restrictions” on SNAP purchases and “put the government between hungry Americans and the checkout line.”
“This is a small, time-limited voluntary program,” said Harris. “This pilot would free up SNAP benefits to purchase healthier foods like fruits and vegetables and encourage USDA to prioritize pilot programs that actually pair nutrition incentives with non-nutritious restrictions. We should allow states to pilot this idea, evaluate the results, and see how healthy eating makes a difference.”
Four in 10 adults are obese today, up from three in 10 a generation ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Harris pointed to estimates that the medical treatment of obesity would cost the United States $644 million a year. He said “the big boys” of soft drink and snack food companies opposed his proposal.
The bill includes riders to overrule the USDA on milk allowances in the WIC program and blocks the agency from carrying out President Biden’s executive order on racial equity. It also would delay FDA action on reducing sodium in food and directs the agency to crack down on vaping products before it prohibits menthol cigarettes or sets a nicotine limit for cigarettes.
To watch a video of the committee markup, click here.
A four-page House Appropriations Committee summary of the bill is available here.
The text of the USDA-FDA bill is available here.
The committee report that accompanied the bill is available here.