Vermont Business Magazine Hunger Free Vermont, state leaders, and other advocates gathered at the Statehouse on Tuesday to oppose the Scott administration's intent to pursue a SNAP Food Restrictions Waiver.
The speakers included Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale, state Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Lt. Gov. John Rodgers, and Sen. Ginny Lyons, among leaders from Hunger Free Vermont, Feeding Champlain Valley, and NOFA-VT.
A SNAP Food Restrictions Waiver would add more restrictions on what people can buy with their 3SquaresVT benefits. Vermont leaders are considering “non-nutritious foods” as part of this ban. While not required for any state to adopt, these waivers are being encouraged by the federal administration, and a number of states have already rolled them out.
Advocates called on Vermont leaders to focus on proven solutions that address the real challenge that Vermonters face–high food costs–like Crop Cash which increase access to healthy food options while also supporting Vermont farmers.
"These restrictions won't make anyone healthier—they'll only make life harder for Vermonters," Pieciak said. "We all want healthier communities, but the way to get there is by making healthy food more affordable and accessible—not by taking dignity away from people who are going through hard times."
Each month, 3SquaresVT brings in more than $12 million to the state economy when people shop at food retailers and farmers markets that accept 3SquaresVT. If costs to implement these changes for the waiver become too costly, retailers may choose to opt out of being 3SquaresVT authorized, stripping communities of their ability to reliably buy groceries.
“3SquaresVT only works in Vermont because of the over 600 SNAP-authorized retailers in our state, and we thank them because it is not easy to administer SNAP at the checkout line,” said Anore Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont. “These are small, independent grocery stores we’re talking about, and this waiver would impose millions of dollars of additional costs on them.”
Nationally, SNAP restriction waivers are estimated to cost $1.6 billion in up-front costs to implement for SNAP authorized retailers across the country. There would also be funding costs to state agencies to implement this waiver–imposing greater administrative burden on already-strapped state resources.
“We started off by having the unprecedented delay of SNAP benefits for the first time in the history of the entire program that people did not receive their benefits in time,” said Emmet Moseley, Addison Food Hub supervisor of Feeding Champlain Valley. “Then we’ve seen onerous work and paperwork requirements that have been handed down to many Vermonters who rely on SNAP benefits—that’s additional administrative work they need to do every single month just to stay receiving their benefits. I think it’s in that context that you have to see this so-called junk food ban has taken place.”
“As Senate Majority Leader—and as someone who grew up a free lunch kid—I hope we see these programs as a lifeline and an investment in Vermonters' well-being,” Ram Hinsdale said. “We should be honest about what’s at stake here. Families using SNAP are already making hard, thoughtful decisions every single day about how to stretch limited dollars and put food on the table. The answer is not to police their choices or add new restrictions that make life harder.”
State leaders must prioritize policy choices that center what Vermonters truly need: stability, autonomy, and greater financial access to healthy food, not restrictions that suggest they cannot be trusted to feed their own families.
Watch the livestream of the press conference here.
MONTPELIER, VT (APRIL 21, 2026) — Hunger Free Vermont
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