‘Can’t survive without Coca-Cola?’ This question echoed in America’s Parliament

New Delhi: A video of the parliamentary hearing held in America regarding the government food assistance scheme SNAP is viral on social media. During the hearing, Republican MP Brandon Gill raised the question whether taxpayers’ money should be used to buy sugary drinks like Coca-Cola.

He asked a policy advocate present at the hearing whether Coca-Cola had any nutritional value. After this the second question asked was whether Americans need Coca-Cola to survive? The MPs repeatedly kept asking for answers only in ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

However, the policy advocate did not give a direct answer. He said that his expertise is in food security, not in nutrition science. She also said that she will follow government guidelines on questions related to nutrition.

What is SNAP plan?
SNAP is America’s government food assistance program. This can be considered like India’s ration scheme. Under this, low income families are given financial assistance every month to buy food items. More than 4 crore Americans take advantage of this scheme.

Why did the dispute happen?
The controversy is over the fact that Coca-Cola and other sugary drinks can also be purchased with SNAP money. Brandon Gill says that taxpayers’ money should not be spent on things which are considered harmful to health.

At the same time, many experts say that the job of the government is to provide food to the people, and not to decide which legal food items they should buy. This video of the hearing is now becoming increasingly viral on social media.