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More states are planning to stop people from using food assistance to buy soda and candy. Yesterday, the Trump administration added Utah, Idaho and Arkansas to the quickly growing list of states allowed to implement this policy. This on top of the proposed budget cuts to the program, the largest in history. NPR's Katia Riddle talked to one family about how this might affect their lives.
KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: Meet Solomon Church (ph), 10-year-old nutritionist. He's standing in the cereal aisle at the grocery store. He lives in a rural Oregon town called The Dalles. Solomon points to the sugar content on the side of one box.
SOLOMON CHURCH: Six grams and has protein, nine.
RIDDLE: Protein, he explains, is the most important ingredient - and vitamins.
SOLOMON: 'Cause if you get something that doesn't have vitamins, your body doesn't grow.
RIDDLE: Solomon is here with his mom, T Church (ph). The family gets about $450 in benefits a month from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The administration says this ban on soda and candy will help reduce chronic disease and improve nutrition. T says, nutrition is important in their family, but so is being able to give her kids choices and being able to buy some special treats.
T CHURCH: And so for some kids, it's, like, the most meaningful way that they feel love and connection. And so being able to give them something that doesn't, like, negatively impact our budget is amazing.
RIDDLE: She's a single mom to five kids. Her oldest are in high school. T says, for them, soda and energy drinks have a special role.
CHURCH: I think it's kind of social currency for our teenagers.
RIDDLE: T's oldest daughter, Olivia Church, wasn't at the store, but on a phone call, she says her mom is right. At her school, some kids arrive in the morning with $7 Starbucks drinks. She can't afford that, but because of SNAP, she can afford Red Bull. She says walking into the first period with one in her hand helps her feel normal.
OLIVIA CHURCH: You know, I would never be able to be a part of that social pyramid if we didn't have the SNAP benefits.
RIDDLE: The administration argues taxpayers shouldn't be subsidizing unhealthy food and beverages, but paying for energy drinks is a minor problem compared to another obstacle this family could be facing. As part of the effort to cut the program, the current bill imposes work requirements. T Church would have to work 20 hours a week to keep her benefits.
CHURCH: As a sole provider, there's no - yeah, there's no way that - if the requirement was 20 hours a week, that would drastically negatively impact our family.
RIDDLE: This rule would apply to families with kids over the age of 7. One of her sons needs a lot of special care. It's possible she could qualify for a disability exemption, but that's unclear.
CHURCH: Because even though chronologically, he's 11, social, emotionally, he's more like 6.
RIDDLE: T says SNAP benefits are critical to getting through this time in their life.
CHURCH: And it's not that I don't want to work. It's not that I'm unable. It's - we live in such a rural community and his needs are so significant, and care out here for a child like him is virtually impossible.
RIDDLE: There are more than 40 million people on SNAP. Experts say as many as 1 in 4 recipients could be affected. It's possible some states would end the program altogether rather than try to make up for the cuts. T says she thinks efforts to curtail SNAP don't take into account the fundamental purpose for programs such as this one.
CHURCH: It seems like they were created to be able to care for members of our community.
RIDDLE: Caring for people, says T Church, by making sure everyone has enough food. Katia Riddle, NPR News, The Dalles, Oregon.
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