USDA Might Ban Purchase of Sugary Drinks With Food Stamps

Brooke Rollins, then-nominee for agriculture secretary, speaks during her Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee confirmation hearing in the Dirksen building in Washington on Jan. 23, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

The new head of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, could be barred from using SNAP benefits to purchase sugary drinks and food.

“Will we ever take food out of a hungry child’s mouth? Of course not, this is the United States of America,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters at the White House driveway on Feb. 14.

Rollins said SNAP, also known as the food stamps program, expanded by about “30 percent more than before” under the previous administration.

“We really need to look at where that money is going, what it’s being spent on,” she said.

Rollins did not elaborate on what types of sugary drinks or food could be affected if the USDA decides to make changes to SNAP.

“I look forward to working with Bobby Kennedy as we figure out, ‘Do we have the healthiest choices?’ So when a taxpayer is putting money into SNAP, are we OK with us using their tax dollars to feed really bad food and sugary drinks to children who perhaps need something more nutritious?” Rollins said, referring to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed U.S. secretary of health and human services.

Both Rollins and Kennedy were confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Feb. 13 to their Cabinet-level positions under President Donald Trump.

As she spoke with reporters, Rollins said she would welcome a review of SNAP funding by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency and suggested the program is being abused.

“Oftentimes these government programs are started with the idea that you’re going to help people—it’s not a handout, it’s a hand up—and then years later, the programs are even bigger and more people on them. And are we really giving people a hand up or is it really a handout?” she said. “If we can have a whole other group of really smart people looking at SNAP and other programs at USDA, that will allow us to ensure, ‘What are our metrics for success?'”

Data provided by the USDA shows that in the fiscal year 2023, about 42.1 million people received benefits through SNAP, the largest food or nutrition assistance program in the United States. SNAP costs about $112.8 billion annually, while benefits to people average out to be about $211 each month.

SNAP benefits are generally available to low-income households that meet income and other eligibility criteria, according to the agency. The USDA also noted that about 62 percent of SNAP recipients receive “unearned income” from at least one source, such as Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or State General Assistance, the agency says on its website.

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. obesity rate from 2021 to 2023 stood at 40.3 percent. U.S. health researchers have long said that consuming sugary drinks is linked to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease risk.

Before she was confirmed as the USDA secretary, Rollins served in various roles under the previous Trump administration and in former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s administration.