I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4909 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to improve diet quality 

and nutrition security, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2023 

Mr. GOTTHEIMER (for himself and Mrs. CHAVEZ-DEREMER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to improve 

diet quality and nutrition security, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SNAP Nutrition Secu5 rity Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY. 

7 (a) DECLARATION OF POLICY.—Section 2 of the 

8 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011) is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Congress 

10 recognizes that the supplemental nutrition assistance proVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Aug 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4909.IH H4909

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1 gram established under this Act reduces food insecurity 

2 for tens of millions of households, yet more than 

3 10,000,000 households still suffer from food insecurity, 

4 according to the Department of Agriculture. Congress also 

5 recognizes that, according to the Department of Agri6 culture, approximately half of all adults in the United 

7 States (117,000,000 people) have 1 or more preventable 

8 chronic diseases, many of which are related to poor quality 

9 eating patterns. Accordingly, it is the policy of Congress 

10 that the Department of Agriculture should administer the 

11 supplemental nutrition assistance program in a manner 

12 that will further reduce food insecurity, increase nutrition 

13 security, and improve the diet quality for low-income peo14 ple in the United States, especially children. Food pro15 grams administered by the Department of Agriculture 

16 should simultaneously combat food insufficiency and diet17 related chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, hyper18 tension, heart disease, and cancer, which cause immense 

19 suffering, significantly increase already high health care 

20 spending, increase poverty, and undermine military readi21 ness.’’. 

22 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Food and Nutri23 tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012) is amended— 

24 (1) by redesignating subsections (h) through 

25 (k), (l), (m), and (n) through (v) as subsections (i) 


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1 through (l), (n), (o), and (q) through (y), respec2 tively; 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(h) DIET QUALITY.—The term ‘diet quality’ means 

6 the extent to which a set of foods aligns with key rec7 ommendations of the most recent Dietary Guidelines for 

8 Americans published under section 301 of the National 

9 Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 

10 (7 U.S.C. 5341).’’; 

11 (3) by inserting after subsection (l) (as so re12 designated) the following: 

13 ‘‘(m) FOOD SECURITY.—The term ‘food security’ 

14 means access by all people at all times to enough food 

15 for an active, healthy life.’’; and 

16 (4) by inserting after subsection (o) (as so re17 designated) the following: 

18 ‘‘(p) NUTRITION SECURITY.—The term ‘nutrition se19 curity’ means consistent and equitable access to healthy, 

20 safe, affordable foods essential to optimal health and well21 being.’’. 

22 (c) DATA COLLECTION AND SHARING.—Section 9 of 

23 the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2018) is 

24 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(k) STORE-LEVEL DATA COLLECTION AND SHAR2 ING.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall collect 

4 the data described in paragraph (2) from a suffi5 cient number of retail food stores approved for par6 ticipation in the supplemental nutrition assistance 

7 program that utilize an integrated electronic cash 

8 register system to enable the Secretary to provide 

9 State- and nationally-representative data in the re10 ports required under section 31. 

11 ‘‘(2) DATA DESCRIBED.—The data referred to 

12 in paragraph (1) is store-level point-of-sale data that 

13 identifies the specific food items acquired at a retail 

14 food store by eligible households using benefits. 

15 ‘‘(3) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT.—Chapter 

16 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly known 

17 as the ‘Paperwork Reduction Act’), shall not apply 

18 to this subsection.’’. 

19 (d) STATE REPORTS UNDER NUTRITION EDUCATION

20 AND OBESITY PREVENTION GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 

21 28(c)(9) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 

22 2036a(c)(8)) is amended— 

23 (1) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

24 at the end; 


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1 (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period 

2 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(E) a description of actions taken by the 

5 State to enhance the food security and nutrition 

6 security of participants in the supplemental nu7 trition assistance program; and 

8 ‘‘(F) recommendations, if applicable, re9 garding administering the supplemental nutri10 tion assistance program in a manner that would 

11 enhance food security and nutrition security in 

12 the State.’’. 

13 (e) FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY.—The Food 

14 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) is 

15 amended by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 31. FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY REPORT; FOOD 

17 SALES REPORT. 

18 ‘‘(a) FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY REPORT.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

20 the date of enactment of this section, and annually 

21 thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Com22 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 

23 the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the 

24 House of Representatives a report on food security 

25 and nutrition security in the United States. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—A report submitted under 

2 paragraph (1) shall include— 

3 ‘‘(A) an analysis of the food security, nu4 trition security, and diet quality of participants 

5 and nonparticipants in the supplemental nutri6 tion assistance program; 

7 ‘‘(B)(i) a summary of changes made to the 

8 supplemental nutrition assistance program in 

9 the year covered by the report that are intended 

10 to improve food security, nutrition security, and 

11 diet quality; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) an analysis of the impact and effec13 tiveness of those changes on food security, nu14 trition security, and diet quality; and 

15 ‘‘(C) recommendations for additional au16 thority to the Secretary to improve food secu17 rity, nutrition security, and diet quality for par18 ticipants in the supplemental nutrition assist19 ance program. 

20 ‘‘(b) FOOD SALES REPORT.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 

22 30, 2025, and at least once every 4 years thereafter, 

23 the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Ag24 riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and 

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1 resentatives, and make publicly available on the 

2 website of the Department of Agriculture, a report 

3 on food sales in the supplemental nutrition assist4 ance program, including an analysis of the specific 

5 food items acquired with benefits by eligible house6 holds. 

7 ‘‘(2) DATA.—A report under paragraph (1) 

8 shall use store-level data collected pursuant to sec9 tion 9(k). 

10 ‘‘(3) PRIVACY.—For each report under para11 graph (1), the Secretary shall aggregate or 

12 deidentify data in a manner sufficient to ensure that 

13 the identity of participants or retailers associated 

14 with the data cannot be ascertained.’’. 

Æ 


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