Top Republican Warns This Trump Policy Will Increase Food Prices

Robert Kennedy Jr. has spearheaded efforts to ban junk food and soda from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

WASHINGTON — A leading House Republican is sharply questioning a top priority of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement, arguing the proposal could raise grocery prices.

President Donald Trump’s administration announced Wednesday six more states would ban sodas and sweets from food benefits, answering a call Kennedy and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins put out earlier in the year.

House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) said the policy will increase grocery prices. Thompson’s committee oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often referred to as SNAP or food stamps.

“I think it’s going to drive up the cost of food because of compliance, because all these states are going to have different standards, different labeling standards,” Thompson told HuffPost.

Higher prices, especially for groceries, have remained a top voter concern after President Donald Trump won a second term in the White House by promising to bring prices down immediately. Grocery prices have kept going up as overall inflation remains a full percentage point above the government’s target 2% rate.