The National Grocers Association, the independent supermarket trade association, alongside independent community grocers, sent a letter to Congress on Monday opposing recent efforts within the FY2024 House Agriculture Appropriations bill to restrict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program purchases.
The NGA alleges the bill would create a pilot program to catalog and restrict SNAP purchases and collect SNAP purchasing data with the goal to restrict SNAP purchases eventually.
“One of the main reasons SNAP is such an effective program is because of the ease of processing transactions for both retailers and beneficiaries, allowing folks to make the best decisions for their nutritional needs and families,” said Stephanie Johnson, RDN, NGA VP of government relations, in a statement. “Independent grocers support SNAP choice because it maintains an already successful program and ensures families can shop with the same dignity and ease as any other grocery customer.”
Nearly 2,500 NGA members from across the country, located in every Congressional district, signed the letter sent to Congress.
“Restricting eligible items to those approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will quickly drive up food costs and strangle the program with needless red tape with no meaningful public health outcome to show in return,” stated part of the letter. “Grocery store cashiers will become the food police, telling parents what they can and cannot feed their families.”