Nebraska will become the first state in the nation to pull soda and energy drinks from purchases using SNAP subsidy payments.
Nebraska Republican Gov. Jim Pillen was joined by U.S. Agriculture Department Secretary Brooke Rollins announcing the first-in-the-nation SNAP waiver to eliminate taxpayer funding for those items.
"There's absolutely zero reason for taxpayers to be subsidizing purchases of soda and energy drinks," Pillen said in a release.
Pillen said the government Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is absolutely needed for nutritional food help for those in need. But soda and energy drinks don't fit the bill.
"It is a tremendous step toward improving the health and well-being of our state," he said.
Rollins pointed out that before the approval of the Nebraska waiver, SNAP recipients could buy anything except "alcohol, tobacco, hot foods, and personal care products."
Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are encouraging all states to apply for waivers to eliminate what are deemed low-value food items from eligible SNAP purchases
Every state governor was sent a letter from the two outlining a plan to make states "Laboratories of Innovation" to get people using food subsidies to eat more nutritious food.
An Agriculture Department release indicated that, "Prediabetes now affects one in three children ages 12 to 19," and "40% of school-aged children and adolescents have at least one chronic condition."
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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