Federal Officials Reject City’s Plan to Ban Food Stamps for Soda

The New York Times reports:

Federal officials on Friday rejected Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal to bar New York City’s food stamp users from buying soda and other sugary drinks with their benefits.

In October, the city proposed a two-year experiment to see if the prohibition would reduce obesity among people who buy their groceries with food stamps. But in a letter Friday, an administrator of the food stamp program in Washington said the city’s proposed experiment would have been “too large and complex” to implement and evaluate.