Brandon Gill Presses SNAP Advocate on $100 Billion Program's Soda Purchases
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jun 26
Brandon Gill Presses SNAP Advocate on $100 Billion Program's Soda Purchases
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 26
Summary
At a House Oversight subcommittee hearing, Rep. Brandon Gill repeatedly challenged SNAP advocate Gina Plata-Nino over whether taxpayer-funded benefits should cover sugary soda, asking if Americans “need Coca-Cola to survive.”
The clash came as lawmakers reviewed waste, fraud and abuse in SNAP, a roughly $100 billion program serving more than 40 million Americans, with Republicans arguing oversight is too lax and Democrats warning against new limits on eligible families.
Plata-Nino declined to endorse soda restrictions, saying SNAP is meant to provide families with food and beverages and that she would not dictate what Americans should or should not eat.
Gill argued sugary sodas have no nutritional value and criticized the witness for refusing to say taxpayers should not fund them, while she countered that hunger is the worse health outcome and kept the focus on food access.