At both events, Kennedy and Rollins cited the misleading statistic that soda is the number one item SNAP participants purchase. Based on the best data available, SNAP participants spent about 40 cents of every dollar on basic foods including meat, poultry, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, and bread; soft drinks accounted for 5.4 cents. Those purchases do account for a large total dollar amount, since the program is so large.

While there is some bipartisan support for taking soda and unhealthy foods out of SNAP, many experts say there is no evidence the step will actually make Americans healthier. Anti-hunger groups also oppose the restrictions, especially because they see them as opening the door to further restricting benefits. In Indiana, for example, one of Governor Braun’s other executive orders directed the state to more strictly enforce work requirements within the program. Another order attempts to tighten processes that assess financial eligibility for SNAP benefits.

In Arkansas, however, Governor Sanders cited her state’s support of other anti-hunger programs. “We understand that food security is a real problem across the country, which is why we worked to make Arkansas the first state in the South to offer free school breakfast to every student, and why I signed our state up for a second year of summer EBT so kids have meals during the summer months,” she said. Her request to add rotisserie chicken to SNAP-eligible foods is in line with efforts championed by Democrats for years, which now have some bipartisan support, to allow participants to purchase hot, prepared foods.

Sanders also cited the fact that the rotisserie chickens were produced locally in Arkansas, while Braun included an executive order directing his state government to study access to local food in Indiana and make recommendations to expand it. At both events, Kennedy and Rollins were asked how those priorities squared with recent pauses and cuts to USDA programs and funding that have been devastating for many small farms selling local food.

Rollins blamed left-wing media for crafting an untrue narrative and said cuts that were made were simply a rolling back of extra funding that should have ended with the pandemic. Some of the local food funding was initiated by Biden’s USDA as part of pandemic relief efforts; other spending that was cut was for programs that have been in place for more than a decade. She said the USDA is “working to realign every taxpayer dollar around what is the best, most effective spend.”

Both secretaries encouraged other governors to follow the lead of Sanders and Braun. (Link to this post.)