(The Center Square) – The Tennessee House Health Committee voted Tuesday to remove soft drinks and candy from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, following the lead of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.
House Bill 1236 does not change any eligibility requirements for the program, commonly known as SNAP, but restricts the purchase of soft drinks and candy using program funds.
The bill would require the state to follow the federal definitions of “candy” and “soft drinks” but there is not one, the bill’s sponsor said.
Kennedy said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published before his appointment to the Trump administration that he wanted to remove the items.
“It’s nonsensical for U.S. taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing junk that harms the health of low-income Americans,” Kennedy said.
Rep. Bo Mitchell, D-Mitchell, asked why the bill singles out just soft drinks.
“There’s a whole lot of other fruity drinks, high sugar drinks that are not on the soft drink aisle in the grocery store, so I think again, sugar-sweetened beverages is the terminology he is looking for and we just haven’t gotten there yet.”
Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, the bill’s sponsor, said the definition of soft drinks was based on statements by Kennedy.
“If you want to talk about substances that have high fructose corn syrup, that is another conversation we need to have and probably a conversation for this committee to have moving forward,” Taylor said.
Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, asked if the standards applied to school lunches.
“I remember a lot of you on this committee, not too long ago, lost your minds when the first lady of the United States suggested that we should have healthy school meals, and so I just want to make sure we are being consistent here,” Clemmons said.
Clemmons was told to “stay on the bill” by Chairman Brian Terry, R-Murfreesboro.
The bill passed 16-3, with three Democrats voting against it. It moves on to the House Calendar.
The committee passed another bill based on Trump administration policies.
President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization on his first day in office. House Bill 1226 requires that the state recognize pandemic declarations only from federal health officials and not the World Health Organization. It passed 16-3.
