Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins blasted U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Monday after a court blocked the Trump administration’s effort to restrict the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for soda, candy, and other junk food purchases.
Rollins accused the court of interfering with what she described as a commonsense reform designed to improve public health and reduce taxpayer-funded spending on unhealthy products.
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“An activist judge just blocked our commonsense restriction on using SNAP benefits for soda and junk,” Rollins wrote on X.
The ruling is the latest setback for the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, a health-focused agenda championed by President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Trump administration has sought to address rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses by encouraging healthier eating habits and reexamining federal nutrition programs.
U.S. adult obesity stood at 40.3% from 2021 to 2023, unchanged from previous years and still above the federal “Healthy People 2030” target of 36%, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Under the proposed policy, SNAP recipients would have been prohibited from using benefits to purchase sugary beverages and candy.
“SNAP is for food — not sugar bombs and fueling obesity, diabetes, and skyrocketing healthcare costs for low-income families,” Rollins continued.
Critics of the proposal, including anti-hunger advocates and some public health groups, argued the restrictions would unfairly single out low-income Americans while adding complexity to the SNAP program, which serves more than 40 million people nationwide.
The court’s decision temporarily halts implementation of the policy while legal challenges proceed.
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Rollins signaled the administration is unlikely to back down from the ruling.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize junk food and drinks at the expense of American health,” Rollins said. “This administration will keep fighting to Make America Healthy Again.”
