Oh, SNAP. No More Soda.
Well, it looks like 12 states have now banned the use of SNAP benefits to purchase sodas, sugary drinks, cookies and candy.
Just 12.
Sadly, Virginia has not joined the alliance for common sense. And if the Democrats win the statehouse in November the Old Dominion never will.
So far, the smart states are West Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska and Utah.
The fact that 38 other states continue to force taxpayers to underwrite the lousy eating habits of their neighbors should be a scandal.
SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, administered by the USDA, to provide “food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being.”
NUTRITIOUS foods.
This program costs taxpayers $113 billion a year and provides assistance to 42 million Americans. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said this week that taxpayers spend $405 million a day on food stamps with about 10% of that going for sugary drinks. Add in candy and the percentage rises to between 13 and 17%.
It’s been estimated that close to 25% of Coke sales are paid for with food stamps.
Sorry, Coke stockholders. That needs to end.
Look, it’s a free country. Americans can eat what they like as long as they’re buying it with THEIR money.
When people accept tax dollars, however, they cease to be consumers. They’re dependents. We have a right to control where dependents spend OUR money.
And that loot shouldn’t be spent on foods that lack any nutritional value.
Many American budget-conscious families cut back on junk food in the past few years as a way to deal with Biden’s runaway inflation. Meanwhile, the federal government took their hard-earned tax dollars and handed them over to poor families who continued to slurp up the nutrition-free food.
It has to stop. We have an epidemic of chronic disease in this country, much of it the result of a diet that consists of too much sugar and ultra-processed foods.
There’s a double whammy for taxpayers when SNAP benefits are wasted on junk food.
You see, when food stamp recipients get sick because of the large amounts of garbage they consume, taxpayers get hit again paying for their Medicaid.
Our national addiction to sugar and ultra-processed foods is ruining our health and wasting our money.
Kennedy and company are trying to stick a spoke in the wheels of bad health. We need 32 more states to support the movement to begin to make America healthy again.
It’s a small step. But a necessary one.
