Fast-food chains across America have raked in at least $524 million in taxpayer funds through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the past three years, according to estimates from a group of lawmakers.
While government-subsidized SNAP benefits are intended for at-home food and beverage consumption by low-income Americans, states like New York and California have expanded their Restaurant Meals Program (RMP) to allow beneficiaries to indulge at places like Subway, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, KFC, and Dairy Queen.
“SNAP is intended to feed hungry families with nutritious food, but loopholes have funneled half-a-billion dollars to burgers and fries,” said US Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who is leading a group of eight lawmakers urging Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to revisit the program.
“I’m fed up with this fast-food feasting, so I’m partnering with the Trump administration to improve the menu by adding healthy options,” she told The Post.
“The ‘N’ in SNAP stands for ‘nutrition,’ after all, not nuggets.”
The legislators want HHS and USDA to assess whether there should be tighter rules around the RMP.
“What was originally intended as a narrow accommodation for individuals unable to store or prepare food, the program has grown and is now dominated by large national fast-food and quick-service chains,” the GOP lawmakers wrote in a Thursday letter to Kennedy and Rollins.
“As USDA and HHS continue advancing efforts to address diet-related chronic disease through the [Make America Healthy Again] initiative, it is worth examining whether the current RMP structure reflects those same priorities.”
Nine states are currently enrolled in the RMP: New York, California, Arizona, Michigan, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Illinois, Virginia and Maryland.
Of those, California was responsible for $475 million in government-fueled fast-food spending tabulated between June 2023 and May 2025, followed by Arizona ($41.4 million) and New York ($3.6 million.).
Participation in the program has fluctuated over the decades. As of 2003, 19 states were enrolled, according to the lawmakers. Fifteen years later, that number had dropped to four.
In 2019, that trend began to shift in the other direction, with California expanding restaurant eligibility statewide to more than 5,800 eateries that are able to accept SNAP benefits.
RMP’s roots date to the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977, which created a carve-out to permit individuals without adequate food storage or cooking opportunities to get help buying meals.
Ernst was joined in the letter by GOP Reps. Ben Cline of Virginia, Beth Van Duyne of Texas, Randy Fine of Florida, Brandon Gill of Texas, Daniel Webster of Florida, Michael Cloud of Texas and Mike Kennedy of Utah.
A USDA rep told The Post that the department is “firmly committed to conducting rigorous integrity reviews across all USDA programs that serve our Nation’s most vulnerable individuals.”