Press Releases

House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) final rule implementing the SNAP retailer provisions in Section 4002 of the Agricultural Act of 2014. This provision was intended to improve access to healthy food, particularly when an individual has limited access to large grocery stores. The proposed rule—released February 17, 2016—garnered significant criticism for drastically exceeding the requirements in statute, placing undue burdens on convenience stores in particular.

“Based on a cursory review of the rule, it appears that USDA responded to concerns with the proposed rule. I look forward to reviewing the details and continuing to engage on this important issue. As the Committee pointed out yesterday in its report, improving access to healthy food is an important goal, but those improvements should not unduly burden certain types of retailers,” said Chairman K. Michael Conaway.

The Agriculture Committee’s SNAP hearing series report notes that work remains to improve access to food and to incentivize healthy food purchases using SNAP benefits. That finding was reinforced by USDA’s recent report on SNAP purchases, which shows there is plenty of work to be done to improve the diets of low-income Americans, particularly those who depend on SNAP.