American Health and Agriculture Secretaries have expressed their support.
The state is beginning to take action to prohibit food stamp recipients from using their food stamps on soda.
West Virginia is asking the USDA for an exemption that will allow the state to ban the purchase of soda using food stamps, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey announced on March 28th.
He pointed out that the official name of the Food Stamp Program is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
At the end of the event, Morrissey signed a letter of intent to request a waiver for changes to the West Virginia snap program, the governor’s office said.
Kennedy told those gathered that the governor told him what he had unfolded at a recent meeting with the soda company.
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“He came with diet coke and said, ‘Is there anything nutritious here?” And they were saying, “No, not of course, but food stamps are not a nutritional program,” Kennedy said.
The snaps “should be nourishing,” Kennedy later added. “It’s not supposed to be food-like substances that really make us addicted… But to withstand these companies it takes just as much courage as it takes to stand up against a big cigarette.”
US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins shows she supports banning the state from using soda food stamps.
According to the USDA, on average in 2023, on average, we received about 42 million Americans per month, or 12% of the US population.
As of June 2023, approximately 293,550 West Virginia residents had received food stamps, according to federal data.
Eligibility for SNAP is based on the amounts that people make and the assets they have.
West Virginia’s actions allowed the department to use the merits of SNAP to buy saft drinks the day after Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a law requiring the State Department to file a waiver with the USDA.
“We shouldn’t let Yutan eat certain foods. We don’t do that, but we shouldn’t use taxes to subsidize options that don’t have nutritional value,” another Republican Rep. Kristen Chevrier said during a floor discussion on the bill.
“As a secretary, please work together throughout the administration to ban the sale of junk food in taxpayer-funded junk food. We would also like to inform you of our intention to pursue snap exemptions from US food and nutrition services that support the use of fresh fruits, eggs, and head hunk for junk for junk for junk for junk.
Kennedy said Friday that other governors should try to eliminate soda as a food stamp option.
“I urge all governors to chase West Virginia leads and file exemptions with the USDA to remove soda from SNAP,” he said.
