Dem Congressman: Taxpayers Are Funding Trump’s Unhealthy Diet

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By Thomas Phippen

A Democratic congressman took a dig at President Donald Trump’s penchant for junk food in a hearing about food stamps Thursday.

“I Googled Donald Trump’s eating habits. It’s not a pretty picture,” Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern said during in a hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture.

The committee was considering whether to start limiting banning junk food purchases for people using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, also called food stamps.

“Maybe we ought to begin with a pilot project for limiting unhealthy food at the White House, because we all pay for that. The taxpayers pay for that.” McGovern said, pointing out the folly of forcing people to purchase only healthy foods.

In a departure from the former White House occupants, Trump is not a nutrition nut, but favors a diet of McDonald’s Big Macs, Lay’s potato chips, Keebler Vienna Fingers, and a lot of Diet Coke.

The committee’s hearing follows a December report from the Department of Agriculture, which manages the food stamps program, which showed that 20 cents of every SNAP dollar was “spent on sweetened drinks, desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar,” Republican Rep. Mike Conaway, chairman of the committee said in his opening statement.

Families on food stamps make similar purchases to those not on welfare, but spend slightly more on soda and sweetened beverages than non-food stamps families.

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