[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7580 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7580

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to prohibit the purchase of 
 nutritionally deficient foods with supplemental nutrition assistance 
                           program benefits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 2026

  Mrs. Luna introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to prohibit the purchase of 
 nutritionally deficient foods with supplemental nutrition assistance 
                           program benefits.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Nutrition First Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    Section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (k) by striking ``food or food product'' 
        each place it appears and inserting ``eligible food'', and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (k) the following:
    ``(k-1) `Eligible food' means a food or beverage that meets 
nutritional standards established by the Secretary of Agriculture, 
excluding the following:
            ``(1) A sugar-sweetened beverage commonly known as soda, or 
        a nonalcoholic beverage containing sugar, cane sugar, corn 
        syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, or other caloric 
        sweetener, excluding--
                    ``(A) a beverage containing milk or a milk 
                substitute;
                    ``(B) a beverage with more than 50 percent fruit or 
                vegetable juice; and
                    ``(C) a product requiring preparation before 
                consumption.
            ``(2) A candy preparation consisting of sugar, honey, or 
        other sweeteners combined with chocolate, fruit, nuts, or other 
        ingredients in bar, drop, or piece form, excluding items 
        containing flour or requiring refrigeration.
            ``(3) A high-sugar beverage that lists carbonated water 
        plus any caloric sweetener (e.g. sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup, 
        HFCS) as the first 2 ingredients listed, excluding aspartame or 
        other non-caloric sweetener as the first 2 ingredients listed.
            ``(4) A prepared dessert or snack food, such as a cake, 
        cookie, pastry, pie, doughnut, muffin, candy-coated snack, or 
        similar product with a high level of added sugar, sodium, or 
        saturated fat.
            ``(5) An energy drink or other beverage containing an added 
        sweetener, and marketed or labeled as an `energy drink', 
        including a product containing a stimulant such as caffeine, 
        taurine, guarana, or a similar additive.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendment made by this Act shall take effect 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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