Lawmakers were looking into the waste, fraud, and abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday. SNAP is a $100 billion program that serves more than 40 million people. If you deal with the fraud, then you are actually saving the money for the people who really need it.
Republican Rep. Brandon Gill (TX-26) had a sparring exchange with a SNAP policy advocate that is getting a lot of attention. Gill probed whether she thought Americans "need Coca-Cola to survive."
"Should SNAP dollars be spent on soda?" Gill asked Gina Plata-Nino, director of policy and advocacy for the Food Research and Action Center, which is a non-profit organization that says they work to improve "the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger."
Brandon Gill asked FRAC's director of SNAP policy if people should be able to buy soda with food stamps.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 25, 2026
She said yes.
He then left her speechless after exposing how FRAC is funded by Big Soda and companies that profit off EBT dollars. pic.twitter.com/RkSQaMyGIE
She replied, "The purpose of the program is to provide families to have food and beverages."
Here's what the United States Department of Agriculture says about it on their SNAP page.
SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being.
It's supposed to be about "nutrition."
READ MORE: Blue States Busted for Blowing Nearly Half a Billion in SNAP Cash on Fast Food
When he continued, asking if they needed "sugary sodas to survive," she argued that some did. That made him laugh.
"Some of them do, who do have low blood issues," Plata-Nino reasoned, adding that those "who have kidney issues" might need such drinks, as well.
Unrelenting, the congressman followed up: "Do the American people need Coca-Cola to survive?... What's nutritional about Coca-Cola?"
She then said she wasn't saying that they did need Coca-Cola to survive, and admitted, "I am not a nutritionist. I am a food security expert."
She ultimately had to concede she was not a nutritional expert. Then why is she there?
The funny thing about all this is that she was just so locked into her position that she refused to say that you don't need Coca-Cola to survive. You don't have to be an "expert" to answer that question.
Gill said a lot of our tax dollars were spent on soda, while it doesn't actually make Americans healthy. Maybe if it isn't spent on soda, it could be spent on actual nutritious food, which could help people's nutrition and health?
Gill also plumbed a couple of questions about conflicts of interest, and Plata-Nino didn't want to go there either. The silence at the end was deafening.
Gill definitely is great at grilling people and getting to the heart of the matter. He has some real talent and likely a bright future ahead.
Masterclass by Brandon Gill https://t.co/qPq7QWg2mC
— Andrew "Drew" Mullins (@realDrewMullins) June 26, 2026
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