(Des Moines) An Iowa bill promises to fund the Double Up Food Bucks program, but only if the list of eligible foods under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is adjusted for Iowa recipients.
The bill is an attempt to help recipients eat healthier food, but food security advocates say it stigmatizes SNAP, impacts economic benefits of the program and would make it more difficult for food-insecure Iowans to feed their families, especially in rural areas that already struggle to provide fresh foods.
Iowa senators have already advanced a bill to allocate $1 million to expand the Double Up Food Bucks program, which allows SNAP recipients to double their purchasing power on fruits and vegetables.
House Study Bill 216 would similarly grant $1 million to the Double Up Food Bucks program but only if the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services requests, and is granted, a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to limit eligible foods.
Luke Elzinga, policy and advocacy manager with Des Moines Area Religious Council, said the bill holds Double Up Food Bucks funding “hostage” under the food waiver contingency.
SNAP eligible foods would include only “real” eggs, meat and dairy products, bread and grain, fruits and vegetables, hot and cold cereals, peanut butter and nuts, pasta and legumes and anything currently permitted under Iowa’s program for Women Infants and Children (WIC).
Opponents, including Rep. Rob Johnson, who served on the subcommittee for the bill Wednesday, said he did not believe HSB 216 would “accomplish what we are trying to accomplish with this bill.”
Johnson, who shared a personal experience of using programs like SNAP while growing up in Chicago, said he understands that cooking with whole foods is not always an option, especially for families with children.
“There are nights where dad comes home … and Eli is not going for fruits and vegetables at that time,” Johnson said, referencing his 3-year-old son. “He wants his chicken nuggets and fries, and that’s all he’s going to eat.”
Paige Chickering, manager of Iowa’s Save the Children Action Network, said the bill, which would require lots of cooking from scratch, does not “meet the reality” of what Iowa families are able to do.
“Cooking at home is great, but for working families, especially for folks who might be working multiple jobs, spending an hour cooking a meal every single night of the week … is quite unrealistic,” Chickering said.
According to a USDA report from 2021, 30% of SNAP recipients reported that a lack of time to cook meals from scratch was a barrier to eating healthy and 61% of recipients said the cost of healthy food was a barrier.
Chickering said programs that incentivize healthy food options have been proven to be more effective at improving nutrition than programs that are restrictive.
“We all want to see Iowans, at all income levels, eating healthier, but I think the reality is, putting these restrictions in place would not accomplish that,” Chickering said. “It could also have some really far-reaching implications impacting the way that folks on SNAP can feed themselves and their families.”
Chickering said the Double Up Food Bucks program, on the other hand, gives families that participate in SNAP the ability to try healthy foods “without breaking the bank” if the kids don’t like it.
“Fresh produce, healthy foods are oftentimes foods that kids don’t like, and so when you have those extra benefit dollars, when you’re able to stretch your food budget and afford more of those foods, you can start introducing them into those kids’ diets more often,” Chickering said.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in 2024, the average daily SNAP allocation, per household member per day, was $5.59 in Iowa.
Elzinga said the existence of the bill increases stigma around SNAP recipients, who are “making the best choices they can.”
“It’s putting out this idea that low-income Iowans cannot be trusted to make the best food choices for their family,” Elzinga said.
The restricted food eligibility would also make it more difficult for grocery stores to participate in and accept SNAP payments from customers. Dustin Miller on behalf of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association, said “uniformity is key” for stores to be able to implement the SNAP program.
Miller said breaking from federal guidelines would present challenges for both large stores with branches in multiple states and for smaller grocery stores that would have to develop a new system to check eligibility.
The group was registered undecided, and Miller said, would be willing to work with lawmakers on a solution.
Elzinga said he hopes the bill would not result in retailers opting out of SNAP, but the restrictions could lead to that.
“We already know that grocers are choosing not to accept WIC because of some of these complexities,” Elzinga said. “What does that look like then, when we make the same restrictions around SNAP.”
And, he said, the impact would hit even harder in rural communities where a dollar store or convenience store might be the only option in town.
“Right now, (Double Up Food Bucks) is available at 96 retailers in 44 counties – our hope with having a state appropriation, is that that number could increase,” Elzinga said. “The restrictions they’re proposing would impact every single Iowan on SNAP.”
Elzinga said while he wants to see the Double Up Food Bucks program appropriation, the negatives of HSB 216 outweigh the positives.
He and other opponents said they hope the Legislature would remove the contingency in the bill, or else get the Senate bill for Double Up Food Bucks across the finish line.
Other opposition to the bill included comments from representatives of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Beverage Association, who said the bill would hurt their members by eliminating some of their products from SNAP eligibility.
Rep. Shannon Lundgren, R-Peosta, said she understands it can hard to feed a family and noted that her grandchildren only want to eat macaroni and cheese.
“But just saying that, knowing that this is quite an epidemic, I think we need to have everything on the table,” Lundgren said. “So I think we need to discuss every single option.”
She voted to advance the bill along with subcommittee chair, Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Adel.
