Kristen Schwab
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Meanwhile, a group of SNAP recipients, along with the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, filed a suit this week arguing that the U.S.
Department of Agriculture did not follow the proper procedures before granting the waivers.
Marketplace's Carla Javier reports on how it's all playing out.
Now that a handful of states have started implementing the restrictions, Catherine Diebler-Meadows at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice says, Recipients who have specific needs to buy specific foods are either shorting their other household expenses or going without.
One plaintiff in Iowa, she says, has to stay hydrated to manage his kidney disease, but now can't buy Gatorade with his benefits.
Christopher Basso at Northeastern says if you take it at face value... They're doing this because they want to improve the health of SNAP users.
But Basso doesn't think diets will actually change as a result of the restrictions.
If a family wants to buy soda... They'll do it.
They just won't use their SNAP dollars.
He says these limitations, on top of other changes to SNAP, could have another effect.
One could argue that the more that you raise the administrative burdens on SNAP beneficiaries and on retailers, by the way...
the more that people are going to opt out of the program.
A USDA spokesperson declined to comment.
and how to classify things like electrolyte drinks and granola bars.
Mess up too many times and a store could lose the ability to accept SNAP payments.
And Mannion says that, on top of other upcoming rule changes, could have stores pulling out of SNAP entirely, which could make it harder for people to afford the food they need, especially in rural areas.
Last year, prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket handled more than $40 billion in bets, or what these platforms technically call events contracts.
How prediction markets work is users take a financial position on everything from sports outcomes to how many times President Trump will talk about golf this week.
If that sounds a lot like gambling, well, there are more than a dozen lawsuits alleging it is.