Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks at an event Aug. 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C., where U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins signed six Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) state waivers, approving restrictions on certain food purchases. (Screenshot via C-SPAN)
Gov. Kim Reynolds on Monday joined a news conference in Washington, D.C., to praise the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Trump administration for allowing Iowa to restrict certain foods under a federal aid program and implement an alternative summer nutrition program for children.
Reynolds spoke at a news conference focused on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that was hosted by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The Trump administration officials discussed approving new waivers for restrictions on what food can be purchased through the public assistance program.
Rollins signed six SNAP state waivers — for Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia — at the event, approving restrictions on food purchases under the program. These waivers will allow states to limit the purchase of certain items, like candy or soda, using food benefits. She said these waivers are part of the administration’s larger “Make America Healthy Again” work, championed primarily by Kennedy.
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“The SNAP waivers are just one piece of the MAHA effort,” Rollins said. “We work so closely together to encourage voluntary commitments to remove artificial food dyes, among other things, from our food supply. And together, we are crafting sensical dietary guidelines for Americans that prioritize whole, healthy and nutritious foods.”
Though the press conference highlighted approval of new waivers, the USDA had signed off in May on Iowa’s SNAP waiver. The new restrictions take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2026, and will last for two years.
Reynolds thanked Rollins for “enabling Iowa to help lead the nation in SNAP reform.” In Iowa, she said, allowing people to purchase items like sweetened drinks, desserts and salty snacks through SNAP “truly isn’t helping low-income families,” but is worsening problems with obesity.
“Thirty-seven percent of our adults and 17 percent of our youth, ages 6 through 17, are suffering from obesity,” Reynolds said. “And that’s something that as the governor of this great state I can’t accept. And it’s why that we’ve really begun to strategically reform our efforts to help address food insecurity and nutrition.”
Another way Iowa is working to address obesity, she said, is through the Healthy Kids Iowa demonstration project, also approved by the USDA in May.
Iowa had declined to participate in 2024 and 2025 in the SUN Bucks program, the federal summer nutrition program also known as Summer EBT, that provides an extra $120 per child to eligible low-income families each month when school is not in session. Critics and hunger advocates said the governor had chosen to leave money on the table that could have gone to families in need, but the governor said she opposed the program over concerns about unhealthy food purchases.
Instead, Reynolds sought federal approval to pursue an alternate program, providing a premade box of food worth $40 each month from 500 access points. The waiver for Healthy Kids Iowa was denied in 2024 under the Biden administration, but approved under Trump.
Though there were 500 sites approved in the initial waiver, there are currently 264 locations providing the food boxes to program participants. Hunger advocates have said this program is more difficult for families in need to access food, as transportation to these locations can be more difficult than going to a retailer that accepts SNAP through the Summer EBT program.
But Reynolds said the state has leveraged Iowa’s existing network of food pantries to distribute these boxes in all 99 counties — and that the program provides food at a lower cost than through Summer EBT.
“Some of the food banks that weighed in, and our partners in this effort, said that they can actually buy up to six times more food than a person using that SUN Bucks program at retail prices,” Reynolds said.
Luke Elzinga, board chair for the Iowa Hunger Coalition, said some of the promises made about the Health Kids Iowa program, like allowing families to choose food items that meet their preferences and “cultural and dietary needs,” have not happened as the program was rolled out this summer. He also said fewer children received food through the program than projected.
“When you compare it just what we could have seen with summer EBT, you know, that’s only about 15% of the kids who could have been assisted through summer EBT that are being served through this Healthy Kids Iowa program,” Elzinga said. “So I don’t think it’s an example for other states.”
The news conference was part of a larger “MAHA Monday” event on the National Mall, which included a “Great American Farmers Market.”
Kennedy said restrictions on SNAP, and other “MAHA” efforts under Rollins’ leadership, were vital to making Americans healthier and solving the country’s “chronic disease crisis.” He claimed 10% of SNAP purchases were made on soda, and that an additional 3% to 7% went to candy — purchases he said should not be made using public funds.
“We all believe in free choice,” Kennedy said. “We live in a democracy. People can make their own choice about what they’re going to buy and what they’re not going to buy. If you want to buy a sugary soda, you ought to be able to do that. U.S. taxpayers should not pay for it.”
