Warnock pitches plan to encourage troops to eat healthier meals as new defense bill advances

Service members could have easier access to healthy meals under a bipartisan proposal introduced Thursday by Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. The Commissary Healthy Options and servicemember Wellness Act – or the CHOW Act – introduced by Warnock and Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, creates a limited year-long pilot program to give junior enlisted servicemembers […]

Sen. Raphael Warnock, pictured at a May town hall, is proposing a system of commissary coupons to help junior enlisted servicemembers access healthy meals more easily as part of Congress' annual defense bill. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

Service members could have easier access to healthy meals under a bipartisan proposal introduced Thursday by Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.

The Commissary Healthy Options and servicemember Wellness Act – or the CHOW Act – introduced by Warnock and Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, creates a limited year-long pilot program to give junior enlisted servicemembers a monthly credit to use at on-base commissaries. The senators are hoping to incorporate it into the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which is expected to make its way through the Senate next week.

“For too long, service members have not had their dollars stretch far enough, and have lacked access to good, quality, nutritious food, which is basic,” Warnock said in a phone interview. “Our service members are the best among us. They shouldn’t be struggling with anything that resembles food insecurity. We need them to be ready and healthy and not have to resort to unhealthy alternatives.”

As proposed, the amendment directs the Department of Defense to administer the program starting at two bases, to be selected by the department. The bill instructs the department to choose the bases based on factors including low satisfaction with dining halls, large numbers of enlisted members living in barracks with access to kitchens and commissaries that are “experimenting with or expanding their selection of nutritious and minimally processed ready-made and easy-to-make food options.”

The amount of the coupons and other details will also be managed by the DOD.

Warnock said he’s hopeful the pilot will be a success and Congress will expand the program nationwide.

The effort comes after Warnock led an inquiry into the military’s spending on food and nutrition quality.

Commissaries are grocery stores on military installations that offer fresh food and packaged meals at a discount to service members and their families. Often, whether for convenience or cost, service members turn to fast food or snacks instead of more wholesome meals.

“Very often their allowance doesn’t go far enough,” Warnock said. “And let’s face it, we’re all witnessing this with the inflation that we are seeing, things cost more. Service members don’t live in a world that’s detached from the world that the rest of us live in. They live in that same world.”

A 2023 report by the American Security Project, a military think tank, found that about 70% of all active-duty service members are overweight, and 21% are obese, according to the Military Times.

Warnock said he hopes the new food benefit will boost morale and help increase readiness by ensuring troops are healthy and fit.

“How you eat impacts how you feel,” he said. “All of us have had those days – maybe not for lack of resources, it could simply be that you’re busy – when you’re not eating well, you’re just dragging through the day, and it’s because your nutrition is out of order. And we can ill afford to have that be the case for our service members.”

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the defense bill Wednesday with only 17 Democrats voting for it.

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