The government would set up five pilot projects to keep SNAP recipients from buying “unhealthy foods” under a provision in the USDA-FDA funding bill released on Monday. The House bill also would block the USDA from implementing three fair-play regulations on livestock marketing and refuse to pay for “President Biden’s bureaucratic pay increases.”
Members of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the USDA and FDA were scheduled to vote on the package on Tuesday evening.
Subcommittee chairman Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland Republican, has blamed SNAP as a contributor to the rising U.S. obesity rate. Four in every 10 adults was obese in 2017-2020, an increase from three out of 10 from 1999-2000, according to the CDC. In an op-ed in January, Harris said Congress should restrict the purchase of unhealthy foods, such as soda, and encourage the consumption of fruits and vegetables. The op-ed was co-written by an analyst from a conservative think tank.
In the USDA-FDA bill, Harris proposed up to five pilot projects running for three years “that limit the purchase of certain food or beverage items.” A summary of the bill said states could volunteer for a pilot project “to restrict unhealthy food purchases with SNAP benefits.”
Similar proposals have been raised in the past with the same goal of healthier diets for low-income Americans but they have foundered. Critics say the proposals amount to “nannyism” and would create a welter of problems in writing a list of banned products, with enforcement left to grocery store clerks. And, most Americans ignore the Dietary Guidelines.
Other provisions in the USDA-FDA bill would limit the Food for Peace program to $1 billion in fiscal 2025, a cut of $619 million; elevate federal scrutiny of purchase of agricultural land by foreigners and particularly by people from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran; and require the words “genetically engineered” to appear on packages of foods produced with the technology. The bill allots $25.9 billion in discretionary funding for USDA programs, a cut of $355 million from this year’s funding, and $2.7 billion less that requested by the White House.
A subcommittee summary of the USDA-FDA bill is available here.
To read the text of the USDA-FDA bill, click here.