Fetterman co-sponsors bill to make hot chicken SNAP-eligible
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is taking a stand for chicken.
More to the point, Fetterman is teaming up with three of his Senate colleagues to introduce what they have called the Hot Rotisserie Chicken Act. If enacted, the legislation would allow Supplemental Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to purchase hot rotisserie chicken with their benefits.
As it stands, a family receiving SNAP benefits can buy a cold rotisserie chicken, but not a hot rotisserie chicken or other prepared foods that have been heated. The legislation would amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to modify the definition of food by adding “hot rotisserie chicken.” The measure would not increase SNAP eligibility or encompass all hot foods. It also would not expand SNAP to restaurants.
Fetterman is sponsoring the bill along with both of West Virginia’s Republican U.S. senators, Jim Justice and Shelley Moore Capito, and Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado. In a news release, Fetterman said, “SNAP funds would be well spent to feed our nation’s families who need it.”
Justice added, “Allowing folks on SNAP to buy hot rotisserie chickens is truly just common sense. It’s as basic as you can get to help busy parents or grandparents put something as simple as this on the table to feel their families. We have to give people the option to put a healthy, protein-dense choice on the table that actually tastes good and doesn’t take an hour-and-a-half to cook.”
The National Chicken Council supports the proposal, and its president, Harrison Kircher, said that making rotisserie chickens SNAP-compliant by heating them up and then cooling them down wastes energy, degrades the quality of the chicken and adds to the cost. If enacted, the act would be “a commonsense solution to an unnecessary problem.”
Rotisserie chicken has become a grocery store mainstay over the last two decades. In the Pittsburgh region, hot rotisserie chickens can be found at, among others, Giant Eagle, Shop ‘N’ Save and Fresh Thyme stores, as well as at warehouse club retailers like Costco and BJ’s. The average cost for a hot rotisserie chicken is about $7.
The National Chicken Council, based in Washington, D.C., estimates that close to 1 billion rotisserie chickens are purchased in the United States every year.