Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is allowing two more states, Indiana and Iowa, to restrict what can be purchased with SNAP benefits, and this time the state bans will apply to candy in addition to sodas.
Earlier this week, Rollins went to Nebraska to sign a waiver from USDA's SNAP purchasing rules, but those restrictions apply just to soda and energy drinks.
Rollins announced the latest waivers at a White House event Thursday afternoon marking the release of the Make America Healthy Again Commission report. “That has never happened before. Under Republican or Democrat administrations, we have never made that happen before," she said of the SNAP restrictions.
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The wide-ranging report calls out high fructose corn syrup and other added sugars as potentially playing a significant role in childhood obesity, Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
President Donald Trump also addressed the SNAP purchasing restrictions at the event. “Earlier this week, we approved a SNAP waiver request from Nebraska so they can stop taxpayer dollars from being used to make our children obese." He said "more are expected to come in the following weeks.”
Speaking more generally about the commission report, he said, “Unlike other administrations, we will not be silenced or intimidated by the corporate lobbyists or special interests.”
