Marco Rubio Wants to Prohibit the Use of SNAP Money to Buy Pop and Dessert

Senator Marco Rubio (R, Fla.) wrote an Op-ed in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, “No More Subsidies for Junk Food,” proposing a ban on the use of SNAP monies, i.e., food stamps, to buy soda (called “pop” where I’m from) and prepared desserts.¹  Senator Rubio claims this would promote healthier diets, reduce “food deserts” in low-income neighborhoods by encouraging stores to carry healthy foods, and reduce long-run medical expenses, a veritable policy three-for-one.

Of course, all this is assuming his idea would work.  But if SNAP funds can’t be used for pop and desserts, people could easily use SNAP money for other things and save their cash for what they really want.  Or they could buy SNAP-approved products and then trade them for pop and desserts.  They could even sell their excess SNAP money for cash, at a discount, of course, so they could buy the banned items.

But more importantly, who is Senator Rubio, and our other elites in Washington, to be telling people what they can and cannot eat?  William F. Buckley, Jr., famously said: “I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the Boston telephone directory than by the 2,000 people on the faculty of Harvard University.” 

Much the same could be said for SNAP accounts.  I would rather let the recipients of SNAP monies use their accounts to buy what they want and what they think is best for them instead of a group of food czars in Washington, D.C., telling them what they can and cannot eat.
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¹ Diet pop should in theory still be okay, since it has no sugar, but who knows whether the rule makers in Washington would deem it acceptable.
UPDATE (5/11/23 12:55 pm): An edited version of this post appeared lthe the Letters to the Editor in today's Wall Street Journal.  See here.