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Free Trade Has Hurt Global Labor Conditions. Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Help Them.
President Donald Trump is hardly an avatar for underconsumption. With a net worth of roughly $5 billion, the business mogul, crypto salesman and former reality TV star boasts a sprawling portfolio of lavish properties, private jets and luxury cars. But amid the tumultuous rollout of his sweeping tariff policy, Trump has had an unexpected message…
Read MoreWage Stagnation Has Made “Minimal Quality of Life” Out of Reach for Most in US
The ability to afford basic needs and wants in line with living a “dignified life” in the U.S. is increasingly out of reach, new research finds, naming wage stagnation and soaring prices as factors driving unaffordability. According to an analysis released by the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) last week, a “minimal quality…
Read MoreBoost SNAP to Make Healthy Eating Easier
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to make it harder for poor Americans to buy unhealthy food. Together with Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, he is asking some fifteen states to submit waivers to bar beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from using those funds to buy soda and other specific items.
Unfortunately, this approach is unproductive, in part because it does nothing to make it easier for Americans to buy healthy food.
The nation does face an obesity crisis. But banning SNAP beneficiaries from buying a Hostess cake at Safeway will not address it in any significant way. Families on SNAP purchase approximately the same amount of unhealthy food as those not enrolled in the program. Restricting SNAP is about stigmatizing people living in poverty, not helping them.
A 2023 Cleveland Clinic study found that almost half of survey respondents considered the cost of healthy food to be the largest barrier to healthier diets. President Donald Trump’s tariffs are expected to drive up the cost of groceries even further, especially fresh fruits and vegetables.
SNAP is already inadequate to pay for the rising cost of groceries. SNAP provides only about $6 per person per day in food assistance. To make better food purchases more feasible for recipients, we need to increase SNAP payments, not cut them by imposing new rules and shifting responsibility to the states, as some Republican members of Congress are now looking to do.
Evidence supports this strategy: When the child tax credit was expanded following the pandemic, low-income parents bought more healthy food with their extra cash.
Poorer Americans (like richer ones) do buy too much junk food and consume too much ultra-processed crap—but the reasons are just as important as the facts. Poor families often lack access to stores that sell healthy fruits and vegetables. Meanwhile, billboards for fast food restaurants blanket poorer neighborhoods, with images of attractive people savoring deep fried treats and pounding highly caffeinated sugary drinks.
Studies show poverty leads to increases in illness due to factors including the stress and financial strain of surviving with a shrinking safety-net and a lack of decent, stable paid work. With less access to healthy food and crafty ad campaigns targeting low-income youth, it’s no wonder poor families dedicate a large portion of their spending to sugary and sodium-enriched junk.
One model for expanding SNAP recipients’ access to better, healthier food is already in place. The Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive, launched as part of the 2014 Farm Bill, distributed more than $73 million to local SNAP incentive projects between 2015 and 2018. The program is now known as the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP).
In 2019, Congress set aside $250 million to fund GusNIP. Allocations since have varied but the program continues. GusNIP has a competitive grant program that funds state and local non-profit organizations to provide financial nutrition incentives that subsidize purchases of fruits and vegetables for SNAP customers. Less than 1 percent of SNAP beneficiaries can access GusNIP, however. We must expand the program.
SNAP’s “Double Bucks” program, now operating in more than twenty-five states, also helps local farmers and families. This program provides SNAP participants with matching funds to purchase locally grown produce. Congress should also pass the Supporting All Healthy Options When Purchasing Produce (SHOPP) Act, a bipartisan bill backed by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, that increases SNAP incentives to buy frozen fruits and vegetables.
If Kennedy wants to boost healthy eating, he should address nationwide poor nutrition at its root by boosting programs that drive consumption of whole foods, fruits, and vegetables. We should teach healthier cooking practices. We should reduce the sticker shelf price tags of healthy groceries while encouraging buying fresh and frozen vegetables.
As Kennedy and Rollins tour the nation, they’ll learn that good jobs are scarce. Child care is difficult to find. Grocery stores with decent produce are not on most corners. Life is tough already, and we should help families in need leverage wide use of SNAP.
SNAP restrictions strip low-income families of their dignity. People know what’s good for them. And when you empower them to make healthier choices, they do.
This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.
Read More“Dangerous Giveaway to Big Tech CEOs” Included in GOP’s Draft Budget Bill
Demand Progress on Monday led over 140 organizations “committed to protecting civil rights, promoting consumer protections, and fostering responsible innovation” in a letter opposing U.S. House Republicans’ inclusion of legislation that would ban state and local laws regulating artificial intelligence in a megabill advanced by the Budget Committee late Sunday. Section 43201(c) — added by…
Read MoreNetanyahu Praises Smotrich After Minister Vows “Conquering, Cleansing” of Gaza
Smotrich said that the level of destruction in Gaza will be unprecedented globally.
Read MoreIsrael’s Ground Invasion Aims for “Full Forcible Expulsion” of Gaza’s Population
Palestinians in Gaza are fleeing Khan Younis after the Israeli military issued expulsion orders for the besieged territory’s second-largest city. This comes as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza intensifies, killing hundreds of Palestinians over the weekend, including at least five journalists. Health facilities have been under constant attack. Israel on Sunday announced the start of a…
Read More11 States Are Eyeing Laws to Make Fossil Fuel Industry Pay for Climate Crisis
As climate disasters strain state budgets, a growing number of lawmakers want fossil fuel companies to pay for damages caused by their greenhouse gas emissions. Last May, Vermont became the first state to pass a climate Superfund law. The concept is modeled after the 1980 federal Superfund law, which holds companies responsible for the costs…
Read MoreA Fraction of What We Pay in Fossil Fuel Subsidies Could Fund a Just Transition
The bad news on climate change is plentiful. For one, there is no sign of a decline in global carbon dioxide emissions and the Earth is getting hotter faster than ever before, despite constant pledges of government action. And now, of course, the second Trump administration is implementing policies that represent the biggest attack on…
Read MoreDOJ Lawyer Argues AG Pam Bondi Can Revoke a Person’s Green Card at Any Time
A ruling in the attorney general’s favor could affect 12 million permanent legal residents currently living in the US.
Read MoreProposed Budget Bill Boasts Historic Medicaid Cuts. Some Republicans Want More.
GOP hardliners are reportedly pursuing an end to states’ Medicaid expansions and an earlier start to work requirements.
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