I did a lot of research about the soda thing and I learned a lot. First of all, the beverage industry has been lobbying for many years against removing soda from the SNAP benefit. No surprise there. I also learned that this soda thing started around 2004, so it's nothing new. It's just hard to change. Both Dems and Republicans in different administrations have been in favor of removing soda from the SNAP benefit.
Soda is also considered the primary reason for the extreme rise in obesity. Of course that's not always t he case. I know it's more complicated as some people seem to have a genetic predisposition to obesity.
I learned that it was originally thought that SNAP recipients would buy very little soda with their benefit but that turned out to be wrong. They spend a good deal on soda, something like 4 billion dollars per year. In fact, I read that the average SNAP recipient drinks an average of 7 sodas per week, while the average low income drinks about 5 and people in the middle and upper classes drink about 3.5. I might be off by a fraction since I'm going by memory, but the point is SNAP is being wasted on a high number of sodas. While obesity is a risk factor for many diseases, a lot of the problem also has to do with what made one obese. My husband's late grandmother was quite obese but she ate lots of healthy nuts and I don't remember ever seeing her drink a soda. She hate other healthy foods and while she did have some heart problems, she lived to be 94, with her health failing only in the last year or two of her life.
Do your own DD if you're willing to learn more about why there has been a movement to take some unhealthy foods off of the SNAP benefit for decades. While I almost never agree with the idiot JFKjr. I think he's correct to want to remove soda from the SNAP benefit. About 12 states have or are in the process of removing it. I wouldn't remove other unhealthy foods because that would make it a lot more complicated for both grocers and recipients, but if soda is covered, why not wine etc. It makes no sense that it was ever a part of a so called nutritional benefit. It was a mistake to include it.
And,
@Toni, I'm not criticizing people for making unhealthy choices. I even drink one glass of ginger ale almost every day and I weigh under 110, although I am a bit insane when it comes to watching my weight. Aerobics have helped me a lot, but that's healthy even for people who are obese, regardless if they lose weight or not. I'm not criticizing people who are overweight. I realize it's a complicated disease that we don't fully understand, although a lot of very obese people do eat a huge amount of food. Why is that? How did it happen? I blame some of it on restaurant food. I ordered a salad for lunch that had over 1300 calories in it, so I brought half of it home and barely used any of the dressing. It's complicated and I hope we learn more so we can help people with this issue. If you eat healthy foods and are overweight, you will likely be fairly healthy as long as you exercise as well. At least that is the impression I've gotten based on my reading. But genetics can cause diseases as well and cancer can invade even the healthiest person in the world, so having a healthy life style can't protect us from every disease. It just statistically lowers the chances of early mortality.
I'm criticizing our government for paying for some of those extremely unhealthy things via SNAP. Does it not bother you that the beverage corporations are at least partly responsible for allowing their products to be covered by SNAP? It sure bothers me.
OMG! We are off topic once again. Okay. I just read that a lot of men are regretting voting for Trump. Back on topic.

I would think a lot of women would be regretting voting for that creepy, sexist asshole even more, along with minorities.