The days of buying junk food and soda with benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could soon be over if a bill in the works from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., passes.

In an op-ed Sunday in The Wall Street Journal, Rubio called for the change while writing, “SNAP is in dire need of reform.”

Rubio said Congress could update SNAP’s eligibility requirements in the next farm bill, a package of legislation passed every five years that sets agriculture and nutrition policy. His bill would eliminate soda and prepared deserts from SNAP, pushing people to healthier choices. 

Citing a 2016 report from the U.S. Agriculture Department, Rubio said more than 20% of all SNAP subsidies are spent on unhealthy food and drinks and that taxpayers are projected to spend $240 billion on junk food over the next decade.

“This subsidization of junk food is fueling American health crises,” Rubio wrote, noting that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of U.S. adults are obese, which can lead to diabetes.

“These diseases can be debilitating,” the senator wrote. “They are also extremely expensive, costing hundreds of billions of dollars in medical costs each year. That SNAP plays a role in their spread is immoral, irresponsible and reprehensible.”

In 2018, the former agriculture secretaries under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama argued to no avail for “diet quality” for SNAP in the farm bill that year. Rubio said he’s hopeful for a better result this time because one of those agriculture secretaries, Tom Vilsack, has returned to the post.

Rubio said he looks forward to working with Vilsack to align SNAP benefit standards with National School Lunch Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. 

Vilsack’s Agriculture Department, however, told Spectrum News it does not support Rubio’s plan.

“Rather than focusing on restricting choice, which would increase program costs and complexity and undermines the dignity of millions of Americans by assuming that low-income Americans are unable to make decisions that are best for themselves and their families, USDA has worked to make healthy choices more accessible and within reach for all Americans,” a department spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The spokesperson said the Agriculture Department has taken a number of steps to reduce barriers to healthier foods for low-income Americans, including by allowing SNAP benefits to be used at farmers markets and investing in programs that incentivize healthy purchases by SNAP participants.

The National Grocers Association said in a statement to Spectrum News that managing a SNAP-eligible foods list would be “a sizable and costly task, particularly for small businesses like independent grocery stores.”

The NGA also said 70% of SNAP recipients buy a portion of their food with their own money, “which would likely lead to substitution of one form of payment for another if facing restrictions rather than changed consumption patterns.”

Both the USDA and NGA noted that food purchases by SNAP recipients are in line with most Americans.