Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, sparred with a SNAP policy advocate during a House Oversight subcommittee hearing Thursday, pressing her to answer whether Americans “need Coca-Cola to survive” and whether taxpayer-funded food benefits should pay for sugary sodas.
The exchange came as lawmakers examined waste, fraud and abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a roughly $100 billion program that serves more than 40 million Americans. During the hearing Republicans argued lax oversight has enabled misuse of taxpayer dollars, while Democrats warned against restricting benefits for eligible families.
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Gill first asked Gina Plata-Nino, director of policy and advocacy for the Food Research and Action Center, whether SNAP dollars should be spent on soda. She replied that the program exists to provide families with “food and beverages.”
When Gill narrowed the question to sugary sodas, she said she was “happy to talk about hunger and nutrition, but not dictate what Americans should or should not eat.”
Gill, clearly unsatisfied with the answer, continued pressing and asked whether “tax dollars should be used to pay for sodas” and whether Americans “need sugary sodas to survive.”
“Some of them do, who do have low blood issues,” Plata-Nino reasoned, adding that those “who have kidney issues” might need such drinks, as well.
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Unrelenting, the congressman followed up: “Do the American people need Coca-Cola to survive?… What’s nutritional about Coca-Cola?”
“I am not a nutritionist. I am a food security expert,” Plata-Nino replied.
Gill later argued that “there’s not nutritional value to sugary sodas” and criticized the witness for declining to say taxpayers should not fund their purchase through SNAP.
“I think that focusing on soda when people are going hungry,” Plata-Nino began before Gill interrupted.
“We spend a lot of our tax dollars… on soda. That’s why I’m asking about it,” he lamented.
The exchange ended with Gill asking whether drinking soda every day is healthy. She replied that “the worst health outcome is hunger” and emphasized that her focus was ensuring families have access to food resources.