JACKSON, Miss.- Are people taking advantage of SNAP? At a press conference today Representative Brad Mayo displayed a table full of junk food that was eligible for purchase under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, (SNAP).
Mayo said, “By not passing House Bill 1078, the Mississippi legislature is sending the message to Mississippi taxpayers that we are content spending tens of millions of their dollars on junk food and hundreds of millions of their dollars on medicaid treating the resulting diseases.”
House Bill 1078 was meant to supply nutritious foods to families and people that need it, but many aren’t buying foods that would be considered healthy.
Mayo closed out his speech with, “Mississippi spends a half billion dollars per year treating issues related to weight and poor diet for the same people we are enabling to eat a diet, should they so choose, solely of junk food. That defies logic and must end. That we would even allow those utilizing public benefits in America’s fattest state to purchase pure junk food is disheartening, frustrating and infuriating. We have the chance to shrink Mississippi’s waistline and our bottom line and we must seize it.”
Listen to Representative Brad Mayo’s entire speech here.
