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April 16, 2025<\/b> \u2013 Trump administration officials traveled to Arkansas and Indiana yesterday to announce their support for the states\u2019 steps to restrict the purchases of unhealthy foods within the country\u2019s largest food-assistance program. The announcements, as well as a focus on other efforts to change the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), are part of the larger Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.<\/p>\n
Next to a table piled with bananas, pineapples, and tomatoes, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins joined Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to announce that Sanders had submitted the first official request to Trump\u2019s USDA to allow the state to take soda and candy out of SNAP. Sanders is also asking the USDA to allow Arkansans to use their SNAP benefits to buy rotisserie chicken. Currently, benefits in the state only cover staple grocery items, not hot or prepared foods.<\/p>\n
Minutes later, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke in Indiana after Governor Mike Braun announced he signed nine MAHA-inspired executive orders<\/a>, one of which directs the state to submit a waiver to the USDA to eliminate soda and candy from SNAP.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to figure out new ways to allow Americans to take responsibility and agency for their own health,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cWe also need to change our food system in this country so that we start giving our kids foods that are gonna actually make them healthy and imbue them with vigor and ambition and a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n At both events, Kennedy and Rollins cited the misleading statistic that soda is the number one item SNAP participants purchase. Based on the best data available<\/a>, SNAP participants spent about 40 cents of every dollar on basic foods including meat, poultry, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, and bread; soft drinks accounted for 5.4 cents. Those purchases do account for a large total dollar amount, since the program is so large.<\/p>\n While there is some bipartisan support for taking soda and unhealthy foods out of SNAP, many experts say there is no evidence<\/a> the step will actually make Americans healthier. Anti-hunger groups also oppose the restrictions, especially because they see them as opening the door to further restricting benefits. In Indiana, for example, one of Governor Braun\u2019s other executive orders directed the state<\/a> to more strictly enforce work requirements within the program. Another order<\/a> attempts to tighten processes that assess financial eligibility for SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n