The Fight to Kick Soda Out of Food Stamps
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What is the debate about soda and food stamps?
When it comes to soda, Laura has recently been looking into a fight that's been brewing in one particular state, Arkansas. There's an effort there now to restrict what people can buy with food stamps, also known as SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
No more junk food for Arkansans on the taxpayer's dime. That's what Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is proposing.
Sanders says people who receive supplemental food benefits, also known as SNAP benefits, should not be able to use those funds to purchase snacks, candy or desserts.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who's the governor there, has been pretty clear that she is interested in Amending what can be paid for by SNAP in that state. She said that there was a lot of diabetes and obesity in her state, and she thought that people using SNAP to buy things like sugary beverages or desserts or something like that, that would be a contributing factor to that.
Here's Sanders making her case on Instagram.
A recent study found that if we just cut out sugary drinks and soda from SNAP, we could prevent obesity in 141,000 kids and type 2 diabetes in nearly a quarter million adults.
Who is leading the charge against soda in SNAP?
Over the past 20 years, states have tried to get sugary drinks out of the SNAP program. But those efforts have always fizzled. This time, though, Arkansas has a chance. Industry insiders told Laura that if this idea spreads across the country, it could be a real hit to company sales, and soda makers are gearing up for a fight.
This has been something that has been looming on the horizon for a long time, the idea of soda being removed from Snap and what that might look like. So I think everyone is watching with great interest what happens in Arkansas to see if that could be a blueprint for other things that would happen across the country.
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Friday, March 7th. Coming up on the show, the fight bubbling to get soda out of Snap.
And this administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.
That's former President Lyndon B. Johnson. Back in the 1960s, the U.S. government created a permanent food assistance program for low-income Americans. Today, those eligible for the program get a kind of preloaded debit card from their state through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They can use that to pay for food at grocery stores, convenience stores, and farmers markets.
And people can use it for all sorts of things, food, drinks. Things are exempt from this. For instance, you can't buy alcohol or cigarettes or pet food. But it is money that is given for low-income families to buy groceries. And it's used to buy a lot of soda.
Almost 13 percent of Americans rely on SNAP. And every year, the federal government spends over $100 billion on the program. But soda and other sugary drinks have been a point of tension in the program for decades. Public health experts and lawmakers have raised concerns over the nutritional impact of those kinds of beverages.
What are the arguments for and against soda restrictions?
Drinking soda is considered to be generally less healthy than, for instance, drinking water or something like that. And I think that there is concerns around diabetes and obesity. And some governors across the country have decided that is an issue in their state. And this is something that they want to work on specifically through limiting soda in SNAP, the SNAP program. Is it a problem to use SNAP to buy soda? Some would say it is a problem to buy soda on SNAP, though it is authorized and you are able to do it. The issue lies in whether the government should be paying for someone to consume that.
In the past, when states like New York and Minnesota have tried to get soda removed from SNAP for their residents, they've gone to the USDA. But the agency rejected their requests, saying the restrictions were too complicated to implement.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the debate about soda and food stamps?
0:22–1:42
2
Who is leading the charge against soda in SNAP?
1:42–4:08
3
What are the arguments for and against soda restrictions?
4:08–6:23
4
How have past attempts to ban soda from SNAP fared?
6:23–8:00
5
What role does RFK Jr. play in the movement?
8:00–10:17
6
What challenges does the soda ban face?
10:17–11:54
7
How are soda companies responding to the proposed changes?
11:54–15:43