Proposed Bill Would Ban Food Stamp Recipients from Buying Junk Food

A Florida lawmaker has introduced a bill that would soon prohibit residents in her state from buying junk food like chips, pop, and cookies with food stamps, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Good idea, or too much government control?

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Ronda Stroms is a Republican state senator from Florida who says:

"If we're going to be cutting services across the board," she said, "then people can live without potato chips, without store-bought cookies, without their sodas."

That sense of unfairness, plus a concern about the health of needy children, is the motivation behind a bill Storms sponsored that would prohibit people from purchasing "nonstaple, unhealthy foods" with funds provided by the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Just in the last year, similar proposals have been made in Illinois, Oregon, California, Vermont, and Texas, but none have been successful.

Last summer, Florida passed a law requiring welfare recipients to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits, but that law was blocked in October. Similar legislation in Michigan has been introduced, but no yet passed.