FOR: Eliminating junk food from the food stamp program

Conduit for Action supports House Bill 1035 by Representative Mary Bentley. The bill would eliminate junk food, such as candy and sodas, from the items that can be purchased through the SNAP program. SNAP is still commonly known as food stamps.

The bill is being presented as a way to improve the health and nutrition of low income Arkansans who qualify for food stamps. That may make it sound like “Nanny State” legislation but it is not. If it was, CFA would not support the bill.

The bill doesn’t tell anyone – you have to eat healthy. We don’t mind how many Big Gulps and Snickers bars you have, just don’t expect taxpayers to pay for it.

The purpose of the food stamp/ SNAP program is to provide NUTRITION to those who can’t afford it. The food stamp program developed to fight hunger and malnutrition and health issues rising from people not having the opportunity to have healthy food.  The current title of the program even tells you it is a NUTRITION program – Supplemental NUTRITION Assistance Program (SNAP).

The bill gives taxpayers the nutrition program they agreed to pay for.  SNAP recipients will have just as much taxpayer money to spend on groceries. Grocery stores still will have SNAP customers who will purchase just as much groceries from them.

Nanny state is a term of British origin that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice. The term “nanny state” likens government to the role that a nanny has in child rearing. – Wikipedia