RFK Jr. backs work mandates, waivers for food benefits program in red state as part of MAHA mission

MARTINSBURG, W.V. – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., spoke Friday in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, as Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed the first letters of intent seeking waivers to allow the Mountain State to eliminate soda from SNAP benefit eligibility.

“We have a public health crisis in this country, and, unfortunately, West Virginia is leading the way,” Kennedy said, surrounded by children and local dignitaries at a Catholic school in Martinsburg. Morrisey also signed landmark legislation banning food dyes in West Virginia in support of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

“I’m very, very grateful to Governor Morrisey for his visionary leadership and getting West Virginia to lead the way in transitioning off of processed foods. When my uncle was president, 3% of Americans had chronic disease, and we spent zero dollars on chronic disease in this country. There were no medications [for it].”

Kennedy claimed that, by contrast, the government spends more on Americans’ health issues than the entire defense budget.

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WV Gov. Patrick Morrisey signs a food dye ban, flanked by HHS Sec. Kennedy, in Martinsburg, W.V. (Charles Creitz)

He said that Congress usually debates how to pay for these increased costs, not how to eliminate the health risks and systemic issues that lead to Americans’ globally-low-ranked collective health.

Morrisey praised Kennedy for attending the ceremony, remarking that it proves the “MAHA” movement started “right here in West Virginia.” He signed HB 2354 on Monday, which bans the preservative butylated hydroxyanisole, as well as food dyes, from schools, beginning in August and for general sale, starting in 2028.

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“We’re cleaning up our foods, promoting exercise, and putting nutrition back into SNAP. I’m committed to Secretary Kennedy’s vision for America and raising health standards here in the Mountain State,” he said Friday from Berkeley County.

Morrisey also plans to implement work requirements for most SNAP recipients, stating that able-bodied applicants must work—citing West Virginia’s last-place ranking in workforce participation as justification.

State Sen. Jason Barrett, R-Martinsburg, who also helped to spearhead the food dye legislation in Charleston, thanked Kennedy for his leadership on the federal level on the issue of Americans’ deteriorating diets and health.

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RFK Jr. speaks in Martinsburg, W.V.

“Our country is in debt to you for doing that.”

Barrett said that when he and Del. Evan Worrell, R-Barboursville, began working on the food dye ban and other legislation, they were warned that food and beverage special interests would be coming after them politically.

“My response to ‘big food’ and ‘big drink’ is: Big deal – the people of West Virginia are worth it.”