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WASHINGTON REPORT

SNA P Sho t – F o od and Nu t r i t i on P o l i cy i ns i d e t h e B e ltway

PETER LARKIN PRESIDENT AND CEO NATIONAL GROCERS ASSOCIATION

The Trump administration’s “Harvest Box” proposal has grocers up in arms.

burdens and fees onto retailers. No clear standard exists for defining foods as healthy or unhealthy. Managing a SNAP eligible foods list presents operational challenges and complexities. This type of undertaking would require identifying, evaluating and tracking the nutritional profile of the hundreds of thousands of food products available for sale – a sizable and costly task for supermarket operators. NGA believes policies designed to promote healthier eating and food choices should focus on providing incentives to low-income populations and expanding access to healthy foods. Rather than further stigmatizing the SNAP program, grocers are working with their customers and communities to incentivize healthier eating through programs such as Double Up Food Bucks, a program that allows SNAP recipients to stretch their benefits further with a one-to- one match to buy fruits and vegetables. Further, in addition to paying $70 billion a year in credit card interchange fees, retailers take on large equipment, compliance and training expenses to participate in the SNAP program. Adding further costs would harm the ability of grocers to serve low-income populations. NGA will continue to work with various stakeholders to improve SNAP’s efficiency and effectiveness, and find common-sense solutions to address the lack of food access in rural and urban areas. ■

Congressional efforts to put the government at the center of delivering nutrition benefits fails to recognize the competitive principles that have made the SNAP public-private partnership a successful program. While the President’s budget request officially kicks off the formal process and outlines many of the administration’s priorities, Congress typically creates their own authorization bills. The Harvest Box debate comes at a relevant time as Congress is set to reauthorize the Farm Bill this year. At the time of this writing, introduction of both the House and Senate Farm Bill versions are expected this spring, with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway indicating that the committee could release a draft as early as mid-March. As Congress begins the hard work of reauthorizing nutrition programs in the Farm Bill, NGA will be working to ensure the voice of the independent supermarket industry is represented throughout this process. In addition to fighting against the “Harvest Box” proposal, other policy ideas that are being discussed in Washington include SNAP choice restriction and placing additional fees onto retailers. NGA is concerned with policies limiting consumer choice and put new administrative

A lot has been going on these days in Washington, D.C. regarding food and nutrition policy, especially surrounding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Here’s a brief “SNAP shot” of the various proposals that are being debated by federal lawmakers and other important stakeholders. In February, the Trump administration released its fiscal year 2019 budget proposal, which included drastic changes to the SNAP program by replacing about 40 percent of household SNAP benefits with a government run commodity box delivery service. Instead of letting households use their SNAP benefits at their local grocery store, SNAP funding would be used to send eligible households a box of non-perishable food items. As soon as this “Harvest Box” proposal was released NGA’s government relations team hit the ground running, meeting with White House policy officials, USDA, and key stakeholders on Capitol Hill to express our opposition to any proposal that cuts out the private sector from food delivery. NGA also organized a letter to Congress signed by nearly 900 independent retail and wholesale grocery companies from all 50 states with the message that any

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