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(Little Rock, AR, April 15, 2025) – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke L. Rollins joined Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders today as the Governor submitted a waiver to USDA to ban soda and candy from and include hot rotisserie chicken in Arkansas’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“Governor Sanders is confronting childhood disease head on, and it starts with what families consume. Today’s waiver announcement is a welcome one, and I look forward to moving through the approval process swiftly. I encourage more states across the nation to follow the bold lead of states like Arkansas as we Make America Healthy Again,” said Secretary Rollins.
“President Trump and his administration have put a laser focus on solving America’s chronic disease epidemic and reforming our food stamp program is a great place to start,” said Governor Sanders. “Banning soda and candy from food stamps will remove some of the least-healthy, most-processed foods from the program and encourage low-income Arkansans to eat better. Arkansas leads the nation in common-sense, conservative reforms and this move is a strong first step toward broader changes to our food stamp program.”
“Helping Arkansans improve their health is a top priority for our agency across all programs, and encouraging people to use their SNAP benefits for healthier foods is an important step that we believe will be truly beneficial to the people we serve. This reform will put more nutritious options on the tables of more than 100,000 households across Arkansas who receive SNAP benefits every month. We are eager to implement these changes and appreciate Gov. Sanders’s leadership and USDA Secretary Rollins’s support as we work to better the health of our entire state,” said Arkansas Department of Human Services Secretary Kristi Putnam.
At the direction of President Trump, USDA is ensuring programs work harder to encourage healthy eating and lifestyle habits. Secretary Rollins and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote an opinion piece in USA Today outlining their plan to Make America Healthy Again, including through SNAP waivers like the one introduced in Arkansas.
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