PROS AND CONS OF RESTRICTING SNAP PURCHASES HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION FEBRUARY 16, 2017 Serial No. 115–2 ( Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture agriculture.house.gov VerDate Aug 31 2005 09:46 May 17, 2017 Jkt 041481 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6011 Sfmt 6011 P:\DOCS\115-02\24325.TXT BRIAN PROS AND CONS OF RESTRICTING SNAP PURCHASES VerDate Aug 31 2005 09:46 May 17, 2017 Jkt 041481 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6019 Sfmt 6019 P:\DOCS\115-02\24325.TXT BRIAN PROS AND CONS OF RESTRICTING SNAP PURCHASES HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION FEBRUARY 16, 2017 Serial No. 115–2 ( Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture agriculture.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 24–325 PDF WASHINGTON : 2017 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 09:46 May 17, 2017 Jkt 041481 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 P:\DOCS\115-02\24325.TXT BRIAN COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas, Chairman GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota, Ranking Vice Chairman Minority Member BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia, DAVID SCOTT, Georgia FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma JIM COSTA, California STEVE KING, Iowa TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota MIKE ROGERS, Alabama MARCIA L. FUDGE, Ohio BOB GIBBS, Ohio JAMES P. MCGOVERN, Massachusetts AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia FILEMON VELA, Texas, Vice Ranking ERIC A. ‘‘RICK’’ CRAWFORD, Arkansas Minority Member SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM, New Mexico VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire JEFF DENHAM, California RICHARD M. NOLAN, Minnesota DOUG LAMALFA, California CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York TED S. YOHO, Florida STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina MIKE BOST, Illinois DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania DAVID ROUZER, North Carolina AL LAWSON, JR., Florida RALPH LEE ABRAHAM, Louisiana TOM O’HALLERAN, Arizona TRENT KELLY, Mississippi JIMMY PANETTA, California JAMES COMER, Kentucky DARREN SOTO, Florida ROGER W. MARSHALL, Kansas LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, Delaware DON BACON, Nebraska JOHN J. FASO, New York NEAL P. DUNN, Florida JODEY C. ARRINGTON, Texas MATTHEW S. SCHERTZ, Staff Director ANNE SIMMONS, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 09:46 May 17, 2017 Jkt 041481 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 P:\DOCS\115-02\24325.TXT BRIAN C O N T E N T S Page Conaway, Hon. K. Michael, a Representative in Congress from Texas, opening statement .............................................................................................................. 1 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 2 Submitted report .............................................................................................. 153 Peterson, Hon. Collin C., a Representative in Congress from Minnesota, open- ing statement ........................................................................................................ 3 WITNESSES Rachidi, Ph.D., Angela K., Research Fellow in Poverty Studies, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C. ............................................................. 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 Schanzenbach, Ph.D., Diane Whitmore, Director and Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution; Professor of Social Policy and of Economics, The Hamilton Project, Northwestern University, Washington, D.C. ............... 11 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 12 Submitted question .......................................................................................... 395 Sarasin, Leslie G., President and Chief Executive Officer, Food Marketing Institute, Arlington, VA ....................................................................................... 17 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 Weidman, John, Deputy Executive Director, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA .......................................................................................................................... 29 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 31 Wansink, Ph.D., Brian, John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing and Director, Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, Ithaca, NY ....................................... 33 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 34 SUBMITTED MATERIAL Feeding Texas, submitted policy brief ................................................................... 282 Secretaries’ Innovation Group, submitted statement ........................................... 283 Allison, Ph.D., David B., Distinguished Quetelet Endowed Professor; Associate Dean for Research & Science; Director, Office of Energetics; Director, Nutri- tion & Obesity Research Center, Department of Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions, University of Alabama at Birmingham, submitted letter ...................................................................................................................... 284 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 09:46 May 17, 2017 Jkt 041481 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 P:\DOCS\115-02\24325.TXT BRIAN VerDate Aug 31 2005 09:46 May 17, 2017 Jkt 041481 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 P:\DOCS\115-02\24325.TXT BRIAN PROS AND CONS OF RESTRICTING SNAP PURCHASES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2017 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, Washington, D.C. The Committee met, pursuant to other business, at 10:24 a.m., in Room 1300 of the Longworth House Office Building, Hon. K. Mi- chael Conaway [Chairman of the Committee] presiding. Members present: Representatives Conaway, Thompson, Good- latte, King, Rogers, Gibbs, Austin Scott of Georgia, Crawford, Hartzler, Denham, LaMalfa, Davis, Yoho, Allen, Bost, Rouzer, Kelly, Comer, Marshall, Bacon, Faso, Dunn, Arrington, Peterson, David Scott of Georgia, Costa, Walz, Fudge, McGovern, Lujan Gris- ham, Kuster, Nolan, Bustos, Maloney, Plaskett, Adams, Evans, Lawson, O’Halleran, Panetta, Soto, and Blunt Rochester. Staff present: Bart Fischer, Caleb Crosswhite, Callie McAdams, Haley Graves, Jackie Barber, Jadi Chapman, Jennifer Tiller, Mary Rose Conroy, Stephanie Addison, Keith Jones, Kellie Adesina, Lisa Shelton, Troy Phillips, John Konya, Nicole Scott, and Carly Reedholm. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM TEXAS The CHAIRMAN. This hearing of the Committee on Agriculture entitled, Pros and Cons of Restricting SNAP Purchases, will come to order. Thank you. I want to welcome our witnesses to today’s hearing, and thank them for taking the time to share their views on a very timely and somewhat sensitive topic, the idea of restricting SNAP purchases. This hearing is a continuation of the conversation had at a Member roundtable last October. There are good arguments to be made on both sides of this issue, and this discussion will be yet another ad- dition to the Committee’s commitment to strengthening the Supple- mental Nutrition Assistance Program. On November 18 of last year, USDA released a report entitled, Foods Typically Purchased by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households. This study analyzed food purchase data col- lected at the point of sale to assess differences in the purchasing patterns of SNAP and non-SNAP households. Ultimately, the re- port found that about 40¢ of every dollar of every purchase dollar was spent on basic items like meat, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, and bread. Another 20¢ was spent on sweetened drinks, desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar. The remaining 40¢ was spent on a (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 09:46 May 17, 2017 Jkt 041481 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\115-02\24325.TXT BRIAN 2 variety of items such as cereal, prepared foods, other dairy prod- ucts, rice, beans, and other cooking ingredients. To be clear, when comparing spending on broad food categories, the data show that both SNAP and non-SNAP households make similar food choices. However, the report also confirms that there are differences in spending in individual food categories. One can also reasonably infer from the report that billions in taxpayer dollars are being spent on items like sweetened beverages and prepared desserts. This report, while not the sole basis of this hearing, begs the question of whether certain food or beverage items should be re- stricted as eligible food items in SNAP. While it is important to have this discussion, we can all agree that no one in America ought to go hungry, and SNAP is essential to providing nutrition to the most vulnerable citizens during tough times. Our goal is to provide much-needed nutrition and to encourage Americans to eat healthier. To that end, this Committee has his- torically advocated for nutrition education and healthy eating in- centive programs. Today, we will consider whether additional re- strictions should be added to that mix. Thank you again to the witnesses for being here today. We look