Newsmax – Don’t Let Americans’ Grocery Carts Fall Prey to Bureaucrats
Keep Bureaucrats’ Hands Out of American’s Grocery Carts – Please
American families continue to bear the burden of inflation at the gas station and grocery store. In 2022 alone, food prices increased by 9.9%, and they’re expected to increase another 2.2 percent this year.
Despite families struggling to put food on the table, some members of Congress want to place new burdensome regulations on the most needy Americans and small businesses regarding their food choices.
Last year, Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced the Healthy SNAP Act which would exclude soft drinks, candy, snacks, and more from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), our largest anti-hunger initiative that serves lower-income families across the nation.
Other programs to restrict SNAP choice have begun cropping up as the Farm Bill renewal was introduced last month.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., tried to restrict choice in the 2024 appropriations bill by limiting purchases to only vaguely-defined “nutrient dense foods”
When that failed, he came back with language in the 2025 appropriations bill that delegates the decision-making to bureaucrats at the Department of Agriculture.
What could possibly go wrong there?
Notably, his proposed five-state pilot program would effectively deputize store clerks to stop SNAP recipients from purchasing select items at the grocery store.
Not only is this plan unrealistic but it also jeopardizes consumer choice while placing undue burdens on businesses across the nation.