GOP Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, in keeping with President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign promises to “Make America Healthy Again,” has introduced a bill that bans people from using their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to buy sugary sodas and other carbonated beverages.
The bill is called the Funding is Zero for Zero Nutrition Options Act, or FIZZ-NO for short, and Self said in a press release that the proposed legislation “is a common-sense solution to strengthen public health and reduce the financial burden on taxpayers,” reports The Washington Examiner.
“SNAP was originally created to help the poorest Americans access nutritious food,” Self added. “Allowing taxpayer dollars to subsidize sugary sodas, which offer zero nutritional value and contribute to costly health conditions, is counterproductive.”
Sugar-free sodas, such as Diet Coke, would also be included in the “FIZZ-NO” prohibitions, which describe soda as meaning a “carbonated beverage that contains more than 1 gram of added sugar, artificial sweetener, or flavoring per serving.”
The health push was spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, and has drawn support from people trying to keep unhealthy products from the nation’s food supply.
The regular consumption of sugary sodas has been linked to health conditions such as obesity, heart and kidney disease, and diabetes.
Self noted in his press release, quoting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that 40% of adults and 19% of children in the United States are considered obese.
Health ailments “cost our healthcare system $190 billion annually,” said Self.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture records, an average of 42.1 million people were accessing SNAP benefits per month in the 2023 fiscal year, with SNAP spending totaling $112 billion. Benefits averaged $211.93 per participant per month.
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