The Hot Rotisserie Chicken Act of 2026 (is a real thing)

[00:00] Yes, in the midst of all of this, the 

[00:06] considering a piece of legislation 

[00:14] I was part of a Hot Rotisserie 

[00:18] This started off a standalone bill and now 

[00:23] year's Farm Bill, which means it's probably 

[00:29] though I do think the whole thing is 

[00:33] for sure, but it is little more than a 

[00:40] There is a lot of important stuff we can 

[00:45] works by going deep on this silly bill 

[00:51] The biggest but not the only way we give food 

[00:57] the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 

[01:03] still call it food stamps, because back 

[01:08] physical paper coupons you could use to buy 

[01:13] and they came in like 1 dollar 

[01:18] You would take those to a store 

[01:21] which was a lot of them but not all 

[01:26] except it was money you could only spend 

[01:31] back in more food stamps, or if it was less than a 

[01:37] If it sounds like a hassle for everyone 

[01:42] basically had to be ready to accept two totally 

[01:47] and ... it was really visually obvious to 

[01:53] that you were using food stamps, 

[01:57] to pay with food stamps which made 

[02:02] Everything got a lot better in the early 2000s 

[02:07] cards. Electronic Benefit Transfer. You use them 

[02:13] fills is up every month for you. The typical 

[02:20] Even if you are opposed to government social 

[02:25] efficiency of the SNAP system. Just as you have 

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[03:42] Anyway, even if you are philosophically 

[03:47] you have to marvel at the efficiency 

[03:52] If you want to hand out food directly to the 

[03:59] supply chain. We already have a nationwide 

[04:05] and so it's much more efficient to just give 

[04:12] But a complication arises when one considers 

[04:20] Grocery stores sell magazines and flower 

[04:26] they dangle right at grabbing distance for 

[04:31] and depending on the state, some 

[04:36] These are things that you might not want people 

[04:42] for reasons that are legitimate if debatable.

[04:46] So, since the very first federal food stamp 

[04:53] there have been rules about what you 

[04:58] That very first national program in 1939 

[05:06] surplus — that is, crops that U.S. farmers 

[05:12] the open market. This is why SNAP is, to this 

[05:19] Agriculture instead of, like, the Department 

[05:26] in the U.S. double as farm subsidies — always 

[05:34] There's this thing that still exists called 

[05:39] out as a way for the government to 

[05:44] to stabilize the price for farmers. Use 

[05:50] And the USDA would process and package 

[05:56] as a kind of supplement for people on food 

[06:01] "government cheese." Colloquially it refers 

[06:08] But etymologically speaking, 

[06:12] a big block of processed cheese made by the 

[06:18] Many years ago I made a YouTube video about 

[06:24] is this unholy, big, bulk dessert where you 

[06:31] graham crackers and blueberry pie filling. 

[06:36] who is Hopi, he grew up on reservation. 

[06:42] of commodity food products and he told me 

[06:48] would make to use up the big commodity blocks 

[06:56] Obesity and metabolic syndrome disproportionately 

[07:02] sometimes point to the commodity foods 

[07:08] it's a farm subsidy as much 

[07:12] and sometimes it makes more sense as a farm 

[07:18] The Food Stamp Act of 1964 said you could 

[07:24] consumption except alcohol and "imported foods." 

[07:33] protectionism for farmers, effectively an 

[07:39] And since the 1970s, the law has, in one way or 

[07:46] stamps to buy hot, ready-to-eat food. The 

[07:54] not for eating out. Not for restaurant food. 

[08:02] probably made a bit more sense in the 20th 

[08:08] and prepared foods were generally, relatively 

[08:14] food industry is much more scaled up 

[08:20] It's still probably cheaper to cook 

[08:25] but we live in the real world, where a lot of 

[08:31] a lot of generational cooking habits 

[08:36] often working multiple jobs outside the 

[08:42] More than half of households with children 

[08:48] Yes, some SNAP recipients are unemployed, but 

[08:55] of the recipients who are unemployed 

[09:00] seniors and other people you wouldn't 

[09:06] Of the working people on SNAP, a lot of them are 

[09:14] the city bus because they can't afford a car, or 

[09:20] and they live in a food dessert where it's 

[09:25] etc etc, and you can imagine that a person living 

[09:34] to rely on at least some cheap prepared foods 

[09:44] But it was, perhaps, a different 

[09:49] didn't want people using government 

[09:53] which were considered a little more 

[10:00] Forget for a second whether you agree 

[10:04] as a practical matter, where would you 

[10:11] groceries? Are cornflakes a prepared food? 

[10:22] cereal is a grocery, right? Why? How about a 

[10:33] The common denominator is that they're not 

[10:41] food is usually served hot, to be consumed 

[10:46] as soon as you get home. Are there exceptions to 

[10:54] simplest way to draw a bright, legal line between 

[11:04] And so if we look at the food stamp language from 

[11:13] "Food" that can be bought with your SNAP card 

[11:21] home consumption except alcoholic beverages, 

[11:31] for immediate consumption other than 

[11:38] What clauses are we pursuing there? A whole bunch 

[11:46] and homeless people. There are carveouts that 

[11:53] buy hot meals from federally authorized vendors. 

[12:00] subsidized nursing homes. Again, a lot of these 

[12:08] sector entities that also, incidentally, 

[12:15] And even if you aren't covered by an exemption,  

[12:18] there are all kinds of workarounds for 

[12:25] in poor neighborhoods often have a microwave on 

[12:31] slice of pizza with your SNAP card and then you 

[12:37] And then there are the chickens. 

[12:43] is a very popular item in the United 

[12:49] widely-available source of ready-to-eat 

[12:54] Grocery stores often sell these birds a loss,  

[12:58] what they call a "loss leader" in business. 

[13:04] easy-to-use rotisserie cases. They fill the store 

[13:12] The customer buys the chicken, which is very 

[13:18] was about to expire anyway, and so this is 

[13:24] The customer buys the chicken, and they're 

[13:30] dinner. They're gonna buy drinks and sides 

[13:36] and retail is just like gambling, 

[13:43] Grocery stores that serve lots of 

[13:47] some of their chickens down so they can 

[13:53] they'll even have a microwave right there 

[13:57] Sure seems like a silly, pointless hoop to 

[14:04] I would argue, that if you want to draw a line 

[14:11] creating some kind of gray zone that people will 

[14:18] ineffective. It just means people are gonna bend 

[14:27] If you want to have speed limits, you have 

[14:34] over the speed limit with impunity. You just 

[14:40] That doesn't mean we have to accept where 

[14:45] the line between eligible and ineligible foods. 

[14:55] This single-page bill simply inserts the 

[15:03] definition of eligible food products that 

[15:10] Hot rotisserie chicken is the ONLY 

[15:15] other hot foods are still off limits to your 

[15:23] The bill is sponsored by a bipartisan 

[15:30] the most famous of whom is Senator 

[15:34] of Pennsylvania. I've watched Pennsylvania 

[15:41] been on my radar since he was the Mayor of 

[15:50] We cannot know if his stroke 

[15:55] we do know that strokes sometimes 

[16:01] Fetterman is thus quoted in his own 

[16:07] delicious) affordability play is Costco’s 

[16:13] of my family’s favorites and 

[16:19] That's a little weird, right? A U.S. Senator 

[16:28] true that the 5-dollar Costco chicken is sui 

[16:36] cheaper chicken on the national level. 

[16:43] And Costco is as close to a benevolent 

[16:49] corporate community. They pay their 

[16:55] to some corporate coercion from the 

[16:58] every other big company folded like 

[17:04] So why do I think the Hot Rotisserie 

[17:14] it only serves a certain kind of poor person. 

[17:24] of poor person. That's just where the Costcos 

[17:32] the kind of place you can take the city bus 

[17:38] back home on the bus. I mean, I'm sure there 

[17:44] Plus Costco is a discount club, which means 

[17:51] Once this bill passes, most of the 

[17:56] be bought with SNAP benefits are 

[18:01] which, again, often do not serve the inner 

[18:09] kinda seems like a bill for John Fetterman's 

[18:17] And it feels like a bit of an 

[18:22] here I am talking about the Rotisserie 

[18:28] Act" is fun to say, and it'll 

[18:35] The less token, more meaningful version of 

[18:41] lets you buy almost any kind of hot food with 

[18:49] called the Hot Foods Act from Democratic 

[18:56] not become law this year. Fetterman's 

[19:04] And I think that is revealing about 

[19:11] how seriously they take their jobs, 

[19:16] Because while they're throwing the hot 

[19:22] they are simultaneously cutting funding 

[19:31] getting SNAP benefits. According to USDA data, 

[19:38] dropped by about three million, 8 percent 

[19:45] President Trump's agriculture secretary, 

[19:53] this decline as an accomplishment. She 

[20:01] She does not have evidence to support this 

[20:08] it publicly. Rollins went on Fox the other day and 

[20:17] 14-thousand SNAP recipients also own luxury cars, 

[20:27] Her source for this remarkable 

[20:33] data performed by the Foundation for 

[20:38] conservative group. If you go to this actual 

[20:44] their data or explain their methodology very 

[20:51] where you can go back and trace every single 

[20:56] One thing about the data they're working 

[21:01] no names attached to any of these data 

[21:06] going on with any of these people, 

[21:12] Indeed, the authors of this analysis 

[21:17] that some of these people on SNAP benefits who 

[21:25] not the perpetrators. They may be identity 

[21:31] security number to buy a car to hide the 

[21:37] We do not know if these SNAP recipients are the 

[21:45] All we know for sure is that the USDA 

[21:52] benefits. They've put extra hoops into 

[21:59] some fraudsters who did not really 

[22:05] has just discouraged some eligible people from 

[22:12] It's probably both, because that's how 

[22:18] Brooke Rollins doesn't like the 

[22:23] benefits when they don't really need 

[22:31] But the problem is, the way you crack down on 

[22:39] someone like Brooke Rollins don't like, 

[22:47] forms to fill out. More hoops. And a bigger 

[22:56] And when you make it really complicated to apply 

[23:01] industry of shady middlemen who help people 

[23:07] ends up becoming at least a little predatory, and 

[23:13] system that were intended to buy poor people food, 

[23:21] This is the central paradox of the 

[23:27] welfare programs. The alternative approach is 

[23:35] it for people to get the benefits, the easier you 

[23:42] You need less bureaucracy, less red tape. 

[23:50] to the benefits instead of going to the 

[23:57] The flip side of that more permissive, 

[24:04] up giving benefits to some people 

[24:11] Maybe that's the price you're willing 

[24:18] least you're paying for food and not 

[24:26] miles-per-hour of speeding that you have 

[24:32] And maybe that is a naive, rosy 

[24:38] a person who is not an expert in social welfare 

[24:47] experts, and a lot of them endorse a more 

[24:56] Sometimes the more efficient way to fill the 

[25:04] This is one of many arguments 

[25:08] benefits with a Universal Basic Income. 

[25:17] not just those who can prove they're poor 

[25:22] to everyone, you don't have to waste 

[25:29] Again, I don't know if that math 

[25:35] I'm just "teaching the controversy," 

[25:42] at the grocery store and in the