Nebraska’s request to bar SNAP benefits from buying soda, soft drinks and energy drinks has not been approved, and written public comments on it close Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration (FNA), which runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, says it will issue a separate Federal Register notice authorizing or refusing the project, and the state wants the drink limit to begin Dec. 1.
The proposal is Nebraska’s second attempt. A federal judge vacated the state’s first approval on June 22, and the new request would add candy to the list from March 1, 2027.
Where the Nebraska request stands
Nebraska submitted its formal request on Sept. 1, and FNA published a notice asking for public comments on Oct. 2. The notice says FNA is still considering the proposal and “will take appropriate action,” which may include authorizing it or refusing to authorize it. USDA’s Nebraska page says only, “We are working on a response.”
The confusion comes from USDA’s food-restriction waiver table, which lists Nebraska with a Dec. 1, 2026 date and a summary that restricts soda, soft drinks and energy drinks. That row describes the state’s proposed schedule. No approval stands behind it, and the court’s vacatur language appears on four other states’ rows rather than Nebraska’s.
Anyone who wants to be heard has until Monday. Comments go through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at Regulations.gov, following its online instructions, and FNA says they must be received on or before Nov. 2. The notice lists no mailing address, and questions go to an FNA email address with the subject line “NE SNAP Demonstration Project.”
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The listed FNA contact is Shiela Corley, the acting administrator. The notice does not say how comments will be weighed, so the portal is the only formal route the notice offers before the decision.
What the drink and candy limits would cover
Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services, which would put the restrictions into practice, defines soda and soft drinks as carbonated, non-alcoholic beverages made with water, a sweetener or flavoring, and carbon dioxide. Energy drinks are carbonated or non-carbonated beverages with stimulants such as caffeine, guarana, glucuronolactone or taurine, formulated to boost energy or alertness.
The state lists what would stay purchasable. Sports drinks such as Gatorade, medically necessary nutritional products, milk-based drinks and milk substitutes, bottled mineral water, meal replacements and infant formula are not restricted, and neither are coffee and tea with no added caffeine or sweeteners.
Candy, in the state’s definition, means sweetened confections in bar, drop, powder or piece form that are usually eaten on their own. Baking ingredients, protein bars, granola and cereal bars, cereal, toaster pastries, ice cream, cookies and pastries are not restricted, so the candy aisle and the bakery case would be treated differently.
The limits would work at the register. The state’s page says each Nebraska SNAP retailer must update its point-of-sale system, and the restrictions would apply at Nebraska stores to every SNAP recipient, including people holding another state’s EBT card. A Nebraska card used in another state follows that state’s rules, and the state says SNAP eligibility requirements are not changing.
A second try after a court loss
USDA approved Nebraska’s first waiver on May 19, 2025 and a modification on May 11, 2026. On June 22, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated it in Aragon v. Rollins, ordering that the waiver’s implementation may not proceed. Four other states’ approvals fell in the same ruling.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins lacked legal authority to approve the waivers, the Tennessee Lookout reported. She also found USDA had not published the required Federal Register notice 30 days before the pilots began. The comment period on Nebraska’s new request is a public-notice step.
The timing rule in the notice matters for the Dec. 1 date. FNA says any notice authorizing the project would issue at least ten days before the implementation date, which puts the latest authorizing notice around Nov. 21 if the drink limit is to start on schedule. A notice published after that date would miss the ten-day rule for a Dec. 1 start.
Until a notice authorizes the project, nothing changes at Nebraska checkouts. The state’s own page describes the waiver as pending federal approval, and shoppers can keep buying soda, energy drinks and candy with SNAP benefits.
What a comment can and cannot do
FNA has two choices in front of it, authorizing the project or refusing to, and the notice gives no third path. Comments filed by the deadline go in before that choice is made, and the notice names no other step between the comment period and the decision.
Nebraska is one of 23 states on USDA’s table. Eighteen others hold approved waivers with start dates running from 2026 into 2028, and the court’s order applies only to the five states it names.
The decision ahead has two parts, whether USDA approves and when. The Dec. 1 date stays a target until a notice says otherwise, and the comment window that closes Monday is the last scheduled step before it.
Shop with an EBT card in Nebraska?
The comment window ends Monday, and a Dec. 1 start could follow within weeks. A household that learns of a SNAP change at the register has lost the chance to plan around it.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer holds 51 state packs and a renewal and reporting calendar, so SNAP dates and rule changes sit in one place. It is not affiliated with USDA or any state agency.
Part 7 of the Organizer, “Reporting Changes and EBT Problems,” covers what to report to the state and what to do when an EBT card stops working as expected.
Get the Organizer’s state pack and reporting calendar for Nebraska SNAP households →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
