WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 42 million Americans receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Yet more than 20% of SNAP funds are spent on sugary processed snacks like soda, candy and ice cream, according to data from the USDA.

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, is cosponsoring the Healthy SNAP Act, legislation to prohibit using federal food assistance benefits to buy those foods.

“American taxpayers are footing the bill on both ends of a broken system: first, by subsidizing the consumption of unhealthy, ultra-processed foods, and then again by covering the skyrocketing health care costs caused by the chronic diseases those foods contribute to. In effect, we’re paying to make ourselves sick—and then paying again to treat the sickness,” Husted wrote in a statement.

Companion legislation has been introduced in the House.

The legislation comes amid a Trump administration push led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for states to restrict food stamp eligibility for processed foods.

Last month, Kennedy visited West Virginia to applaud the state applying for a waiver to exclude soda from SNAP benefits.

“Thirty-eight percent of American youth are pre-diabetic. This was unknown 30 years ago. Every child that becomes diabetic, there should be a headline about them,” Kennedy said at the event on March 28.

This week three states followed suit in efforts to remove candy and soda from the SNAP program: Indiana, Idaho and Arkansas.

Some Democrats opposed the proposed limits on SNAP benefits.

“I think it’s a slippery slope when you start telling people what they can and can’t buy,” Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, said at a press conference earlier this month opposing proposed SNAP funding cuts.

Some Democrats said any legislation to restrict the use of food benefits needs to address the root causes of “food deserts,” where there is limited access to fresh, healthy food.