Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins shocked the Washington establishment this week with a move that has big government bureaucrats trembling.
The America First agenda just scored a major victory with a policy change that the Left never saw coming.
And Brooke Rollins just handed Biden’s food stamp army its worst nightmare in three states.
SNAP program gets a much-needed overhaul
For decades, liberals have expanded the food stamp program into a massive government handout with virtually no accountability.
The program exploded under Biden with recipients allowed to purchase almost anything in the grocery store with taxpayer-funded EBT cards – including soda, candy, junk food, and other products that fuel America’s obesity epidemic.
But that’s all changing now, thanks to President Trump and his Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
On May 23, Secretary Rollins announced she had signed waivers for Indiana and Iowa to amend the definition of food eligible for purchase under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
This follows a similar waiver granted to Nebraska earlier in the week.
“President Trump has given our nation a once in a generation opportunity to change the health trajectory for our entire country,” Rollins declared. “On my first day as Secretary, I sent a call to states to innovate, and Governors Jim Pillen, Kim Reynolds, Mike Braun, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Laura Kelly, Patrick Morrisey, Jared Polis, Brad Little, Spencer Cox, and Greg Abbott have stepped up and taken action.”
The waivers mark a historic shift in how the food stamp program will operate in these states.
Putting nutrition back in nutrition assistance
Indiana Governor Mike Braun praised the move, saying, “Indiana is proud to be a leader in the Make America Healthy Again initiative, and today Secretary Rollins signed our waiver to return SNAP in Indiana to its intended purpose: nutrition.”
Braun added that the Trump administration was “putting our farmers first and supporting American agriculture,” highlighting how this policy benefits both SNAP recipients and American agricultural producers.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds pointed to the urgent need for change in light of growing health problems.
“Soaring obesity rates have brought our nation and state to a crossroads,” Reynolds explained. “To promote healthy eating and protect future generations from disease—and to ensure SNAP fulfills its core function—we need a change.”
Before these waivers, SNAP recipients could purchase virtually any food item except alcohol, tobacco, hot prepared foods, and personal care products. The new rules significantly expand that list of prohibited items.
States take different approaches to junk food ban
Each state is implementing the new rules slightly differently:
- Indiana’s waiver excludes soft drinks and candy from SNAP purchases
- Iowa’s waiver bans any food item eligible for sales tax, including sweetened beverages, snacks, and candy
- Both waivers take effect January 1, 2026
The Department of Agriculture cited alarming health statistics as justification for the policy shift. Prediabetes now affects one in three children ages 12 to 19. Forty percent of school-aged children have at least one chronic condition. And 15% of high school students consume one or more sodas daily.
This initiative is part of President Trump’s broader “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, which he tasked both Rollins and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with implementing across multiple agencies.
More states expected to follow
Secretary Rollins has been aggressively recruiting governors to join what she calls the “Laboratories of Innovation” initiative.
On her first full day in office, she sent a letter to all governors outlining her vision and inviting them to participate in creating “bold solutions to long-ignored challenges.”
According to the USDA announcement, many more states are expected to apply for similar waivers in the coming weeks and months.
The Left is furious about the changes, claiming they unfairly target low-income Americans. But supporters argue the program was always intended to provide nutrition – not empty calories that contribute to the country’s health crisis.
The food stamp program has ballooned to nearly $100 billion annually, with critics arguing it has strayed far from its original purpose of providing basic nutritional needs to the truly needy.
With these changes, the Trump administration is finally returning the program to its roots while tackling the health crisis that has been ignored for too long.
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