Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst was criticized after she told Fox Business about her new proposal to prevent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from being used at fast food restaurants, which she's named the McSCUSE ME Act.
The idea that SNAP recipients are freely spending their benefits on fast food simply as a matter of convenience is inaccurate, however.
What’s actually at issue is the Restaurant Meals Program, an optional state initiative that permits a limited group of SNAP participants—such as people experiencing homelessness, those with disabilities, or individuals without access to cooking facilities—to purchase prepared meals at approved restaurants using their benefits.
The proposal appears to take its title from a viral clip featuring a woman who accused a McDonald’s worker of making fun of her weight when she inquired about a $1 McRib promotion. In the video, the woman reacts angrily, exclaiming, “McScuse me?” before threatening violence against the employee and boasting that she would knock her out.
Ernst said:
"I have an act called the McSCUSE ME Act which would disallow those SNAP benefits being used at fast food restaurants. We want to make sure that those hungry families, those food insecure families actually are receiving benefits, but we want them to really use those dollars on nutrient-rich foods."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Ernst's appearance on Fox Business comes as the Trump administration continues to face criticism for denying SNAP benefits to hungry children.
The loss of SNAP is a result of the Trump administration's failure to spend contingency funds to feed people on the program, a decision that is resulting in a nationwide hunger crisis impacting millions of families.
Although SNAP benefits are administered by individual states, the program is funded by the federal government, which was shuttered until the government shutdown was finally resolved last month. The budget impasse kicked off after the GOP refused to negotiate with Democrats over Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that were due to expire.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during an interview with Newsmax several weeks ago that the Trump administration will require millions of recipients to reapply for the SNAP benefits they were denied as part of an effort to crack down on “fraud."
Rollins said she plans to “have everyone reapply for their benefits, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through ... food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it.”
Ernst subscribes to the same school of thought, and alleged in a post on X that "blue states are abusing SNAP to spend $524 million at restaurants, mostly fast food."
She added:
"I wish I was McRibbing you, but this is no joke. My McSCUSE ME Act will restore SNAP to its original mission and ensure the “N” in SNAP stands for NUTRITION not NUGGETS."
You can see her post below.
She was swiftly called out.
The Trump administration announced this week that it plans to cut off federal funds used to run the SNAP food assistance program in most Democratic-led states beginning next week, unless those states turn over detailed data on benefit recipients.
Rollins said during a Cabinet meeting that the move is driven by what she described as states’ refusal to share information such as recipients’ names and immigration status, which she argued is necessary to detect fraud. Democratic officials, however, say eligibility is already thoroughly verified and that they do not hand over large-scale sensitive data to Washington.
While the federal government covers the full cost of SNAP benefits themselves, states share responsibility for administrative expenses. A USDA spokesperson later clarified that only those administrative funds—not the food assistance payments—are at risk.
The dispute is already in court. Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., sued earlier this year to block the data demand, and a federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily barred the administration from collecting the information.
Even so, the federal government sent another letter last week pressing states to comply, though both sides agreed to a response deadline of December 8.
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U.S. Mint
