{"id":9785,"date":"2023-10-05T12:36:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T12:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=9785"},"modified":"2023-10-05T12:36:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T12:36:18","slug":"consumers-deserve-to-have-choices-in-the-grocery-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/05\/consumers-deserve-to-have-choices-in-the-grocery-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumers Deserve to Have Choices in the Grocery Store:"},"content":{"rendered":"

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John Burnett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lawmakers Should Reverse Course on Misguided SNAP Restrictions<\/strong><\/p>\n

By John Burnett<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amidst Congress’ best efforts to keep the\u00a0government open<\/a>, it\u2019s also hard at work to re-authorize\u00a0affordable food, farmers are able to insure their crops, and ranchers can export their products to foreign markets. It\u2019s not an understatement to say it\u2019s one of the most important bills Congress can send to the president\u2019s desk, which is why it is so important to get it right.<\/p>\n

Yet, some in Congress think getting it \u201cright\u201d means restricting certain consumers’ food items as \u201cwrong\u201d to buy. According to a\u00a0recently introduced proposal<\/a>, Americans enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would be prohibited from purchasing snacks, fruit juice, and\u00a0soda \u2013 including beverages that are low calorie or zero sugar \u2013\u00a0with their benefits. It\u2019s the equivalent of putting the federal government in between consumers and the products they enjoy.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: consumers deserve to have choices in the grocery store. SNAP recipients are Americans in need and are fully capable of making their own food choices, and limiting their options also stigmatizes them as incapable of responsible decision-making. This approach undermines the dignity and self-respect of SNAP participants, and it puts the government in the position of choosing what people can serve their families. This is a slippery slope that would open the door to a government\u00a0good-food or bad-food list<\/em>\u00a0that could apply to other everyday items on the grocery list.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, lawmakers like Marco Rubio and others may be seeking to jam this misguided idea into the farm bill. The legislative process is hard enough as it is, but it becomes significantly more difficult as individual members of Congress and D.C. special interest groups seek to attach pet projects or priorities to what should be bipartisan legislation. And in Congress, it\u2019s easy for a few lawmakers to derail the progress on must-pass legislation.<\/p>\n

The basis of the idea is about removing choice, but the authors of the so-called \u201cHealthy SNAP Act\u201d claim it\u2019ll help\u00a0reduce spending<\/a>, but the data doesn\u2019t support it. SNAP recipients will still have the same amount of benefits.<\/p>\n

On the SNAP side, lawmakers could look at generating savings by capping benefits, implementing work requirements, or reducing the overall size of the program.<\/p>\n

We all want Americans to make good choices that promote healthier eating habits, but restricting the treats parents buy their kids is not the solution. It’s a shortsighted and ineffective approach that infringes on individual freedom, further stigmatizing lower-income communities, and won\u2019t yield the savings Senator Rubio is promising. Instead, we should focus on real policies that improve access to nutritious foods and empower all individuals, regardless of their income, to make healthier choices.<\/p>\n

As Republicans, we are proud to be the party of individual choice and freedom. These foundational principles are essential to the promise of liberty for all \u2013 that we trust our fellow Americans to make their own life choices, even if we don\u2019t agree with them. I\u2019m proud to subscribe to these values, which is why it is important we push back on ideas from within our party that restrict the ability for us to make our own decisions.<\/p>\n

These values should apply at the grocery store, so lawmakers should reverse course on their misguided SNAP restriction proposal. The last thing Americans need is more nanny state decrees from politicians who think they know best for them.<\/p>\n

John Burnett is a business and political analyst and an adjunct assistant professor at New York University.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Lawmakers Should Reverse Course on Misguided SNAP Restrictions By John Burnett Amidst Congress’ best efforts to keep the\u00a0government open, it\u2019s also hard at work to re-authorize\u00a0affordable food, farmers are able to insure their crops, and ranchers can export their products to foreign markets. It\u2019s not an understatement to say it\u2019s one of the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[195],"class_list":["post-9785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9787,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9785\/revisions\/9787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9785"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=9785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}