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A push to ban sugary drinks, candy, and more from the U.S. program that helps low-income families pay for nutritious food has been tried beforebut it may soon get a boost from new Trump administration officials. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed health and human services secretary, and Brooke Rollins, the new agriculture secretary, have both signaled that they favor stripping such treats from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Kennedy has been most vocal, calling for the government to stop allowing the nearly $113 billion program that serves about 42 million Americans to use benefits to pay for soda or processed foods. The one place that I would say that we need to really change policy is the SNAP program and food stamps and in school lunches, Kennedy told Fox News host Laura Ingraham last week. There, the federal government in many cases is paying for it. And we shouldn’t be subsidizing people to eat poison. In one of her first interviews after being confirmed, Rollins said she looked forward to working with Kennedy on the issue. When a taxpayer is putting money into SNAP, are they okay with us using their tax dollars to feed really bad food and sugary drinks to children who perhaps need something more nutritious? Rollins said. These are all massive questions we’re going to be asking and working on in the coming months and years. But removing certain foods from SNAPknown for years as food stampsisn’t as simple as it sounds. The program is run by the USDA, not HHS, and is administered through individual states. It is authorized by the federal Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, which says SNAP benefits can be used for any food or food product intended for human consumption, except alcohol, tobacco, and hot foods, including those prepared for immediate consumption. Excluding any foods would require Congress to change the lawor for states to get waivers that would let them restrict purchases, said Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group. Over the past 20 years, lawmakers in several states have proposed stopping SNAP from paying for bottled water, soda, chips, ice cream, decorated cakes, and luxury meats like steak. None of those requests have ever been approved under either Republican or Democratic presidents, Bergh said. In the past, Agriculture Department officials rejected the waivers, saying in a 2007 paper that no clear standards exist to define foods as good or bad, or healthy or not healthy. In addition, the agency said restrictions would be difficult to implement, complicated, and costly. And they might not change recipients food purchases or reduce conditions such as obesity. Anti-hunger advocates point to research that shows SNAP recipients are no more likely than other low-income Americans to buy sugary drinks or snack foods. And they say that limiting food choices undermines the autonomy and dignity of people who receive, on average, about $187 per monthor about $6.16 per day, according to the latest figures. This is just another way to cut benefits, said Gina Plata-Nino, a deputy director at the Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit advocacy group. It’s like, how do we restrict people more? How do we stigmatize them more? Bills are pending in Congress and in several states to restrict SNAP benefits from paying for soda, candy, and other items. Representative Josh Breechan, an Oklahoma Republican, sponsored the Healthy SNAP Act. If someone wants to buy junk food on their own dime, thats up to them, he said. But what were saying is, dont ask the taxpayer to pay for it and then also expect the taxpayer to pick up the tab for the resulting health consequences. One SNAP recipient said she uses her monthly $291 benefit to buy necessities such as meat, oil, milk, and coffee. Martina Santos, 66, of New York City, supplements those foods with fresh vegetables and fruits from a pantry run by the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, where she’s also a volunteer. Because she has diabetes and other health conditions, she said she understands the importance of using the benefits only for nutritious options. For me, SNAP is to be used toward healthy food to get people to avoid all the disease theyre having around right now: obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, Santos said. In Kansas and elsewhere, bills that would ban soft drinks and candy highlight some of the challenges of such changes. Several pending bills seek to keep SNAP from paying for soft drinks, but they would continue to allow drinks containing milk, milk alternatives like soy or almond milk, or drinks with more than 50% vegetable or fruit juice. Candy is characterized as any unrefrigerated, flourless preparation of sugar, honey, or other natural or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces. By that definition, Kit Kat and Twix bars, which contain flour, wouldn’t be banned. And juices that contain high amounts of sugar but are more than half fruit juice by volume would be allowed. Such conundrums have stymied changes to the SNAP program for decades. But this moment could be different, said Dr. Anand Parekh, chief medical officer of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. The momentum behind Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement could spur a new focus on solutions to poor diets that account for leading risk factors for early disease and death. When we talk about the SNAP program, we have to remind people that the N stands for nutrition, Parekh said. It’s about time that both parties can come together and see what are the innovations here to improve diet quality and nutrition. By Jonel Aleccia, AP health writer Associated Press video journalist Mary Conlon contributed to this report. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Frustration is a common emotion. It’s a close cousin to anger, because both deal with your reaction to an obstacle that is preventing you from achieving your goals. Where they differ is that anger is (usually) directed outward at an external obstacle. The energy and rage that anger generates may be useful for trying to influence that external obstacle physically. Frustration is often directed at an internal or systemic obstacle that you cant do much about. You may be frustrated because you dont have the capability or time to do something, or may feel like some aspect of your company (or society) prevents you from accomplishing a goal. But frustration is often unproductive, because it gets you energized around something you cant really fix. You may actually think less clearly if you get too energized and that might make it harder to move forward. Here are a few things you can do to handle frustration effectively, especially when it comes up in the workplace: Take a step back Research going back almost 120 years shows that there is a sweet spot for the amount of mental energy you need to operate effectively. When you have a low level of energy, you dont think effectively, because you’re simply not engaged with the situation. As you get more energized, you get more effective in your thinking up to a point. However, additional energy will actually create too much arousal. At that point, you have a hard time staying focused. A little frustration can be helpful, because it may actually get you to pay attention to something that might otherwise escape your notice. However, when a situation creates more extreme frustration, youre going to have trouble addressing it effectively. You need to develop strategies to dissipate that energy. Ideally, you would take a little time to disengage from the situation. Some physical activity can help. Taking a brisk walk or doing a workout can leave you calmer afterward. Techniques for calming yourself can also be valuable. Deep breathing exercises, yoga, and mindfulness meditations are options. Some of these techniques (particularly deep breathing) are also helpful when you cant completely disengage with the situation. Understand the root of your workplace frustration When youre feeling workplace frustration, it may not always be obvious what’s causing that emotion. That is, you may have the overwhelming feeling that you’re stuck without knowing why. It is valuable to think more about the nature of the obstacle and what would be required to overcome it. In what ways do you feel unprepared to take on the task youre doing? If you need assistance from someone else or an opportunity build your skills, then develop a proposal you can bring to a supervisor to be more effective in the future. To what extent are there organizational structures that are getting in your way? Perhaps there is someone else making it difficult to complete your work. Perhaps you need permission from someone to move forward and cant get the go-ahead. A conversation with your supervisor can be helpful here, as well. If you’re not sure where the barrier is coming from, they may be able to help. If you do know the cause of the problem, they may also be able to clear it away. Bringing these sources of organizational frustration to the attention of a supervisor is also valuable, because if youre having a problem, chances are there are other colleagues who are as well. Get help Occasional frustration is part of everyones personal and professional life. Developing strategies to deal with excess energy that I mentioned earlier help a lot. But, if you find yourself frustrated at work frequently, consider seeing a therapist or career coach. It’s natural to think that the workplace frustration you experience signals a problem with the organization youre working for. You might think the organization is poorly run, that your manager is a problem, or that you are just a bad fit for your current role. And, it’s entirely possible these are a big source of the problem. A good therapist or coach can help you to identify the source of the significant frustration youre feeling. An important reason to work with someone else, though, is that it is also possible that you are helping to make that sense of frustration worse through your own reactions to things happening at work. Perhaps you interpret other peoples actions in a way that makes them feel like obstacles when they are not intended that way. Perhaps you are overestimating your own abilities, and that puts you in situations that are ultimately overwhelming. You might want to please others and so you take on more work than you can handle. A therapist or coach may help you to see the ways that you are contributing to your feelings of frustration. That is important, because you might think that changing jobs will alleviate your workplace frustration. But, if your actions or reactions are contributing to your sense of frustration, those wont go away just by moving from one job to another.
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The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. Virgin lithium mining is a focal point for the U.S. and is necessary for the nations growth in the critical minerals market. Yet, there is another primary source to secure key battery materials (lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese), and that is recycling end-of-life and scrap batteries. Domestic sourcing is crucial to expanding our manufacturing efforts, and its imperative that recycling and mining complement one another if we want to succeed in our supply chain stabilization efforts. Currently, the U.S. produces black mass (the output recycling lithium-ion batteries metals that can be put back into the supply chain). We will have a large supply of this material in the next few years that will be readily available to the domestic market. Whats also important is that well have increased refining capacity to extract critical materials contained in the domestically available black mass to enable cathode producers to manufacture cathode powder for cell manufacturers. The global critical minerals industry is on a growth trajectory, and there is a tremendous opportunity to recover these metals within our borders and reuse them to produce new materials including energy storage systems, technological advancements, consumer products, and defense applications. Now is the time to strengthen the U.S.s critical materials strategy and global competitiveness with a focus on key factors: Accelerating access to domestically sourced critical minerals Becoming a leading critical minerals producer Committing to increased raw battery material manufacturing in the U.S. Global impact Battery recycling refinement industry challenges are similar to other growth industries, with a lot of new entrants not fully understanding the investments needed for market success. The key is experience and understanding this complex web of interconnectedness that streamlines the workflow to offer useable domestic material. Other factors such as inflated material acquisition costs will need to be reset much lower for the industry to succeed. And with todays metal prices on the London Metal Exchange, expectations should focus on a return on invested capital to produce these critical minerals. Enabling domestic sourcing that prioritizes onshore capabilities in the critical materials space, with a specific focus on refinement, is the path to stability. Once these materials are within our border, we need to keep them here. We can achieve this through a closed-loop system. When consumers and original equipment manufacturers have a battery at end-of-life or scrap, they should coordinate with a certified recycler to safely transport, sort, disassemble, process, and extract critical materials into battery-grade salts to be put back into domestic supply chains. By activating this proven model at a larger scale, we can increase access and capacity domestically, however it has to be profitable. Becoming a critical minerals production leader would enhance the new administrations commitment to U.S. manufacturing, national security, global competitiveness, and strengthening our supply chains. Onshore manufacturing To ensure there is sustainable investment throughout the critical minerals supply chain, the entire supply chain needs a profitable business model that can deliver a return on the required investment. Also, the U.S. can be a leading critical minerals producer and powerhouse by onshoring manufacturing to further the national defense stockpile sources, reducing the nations mineral reliance on foreign entities of concern and supporting the priority of accelerated access to domestically sourced critical minerals. By recycling and recovering these materials, we can start to enhance our supply chains in the short term, ultimately working towards ensuring that the U.S. secures critical materials for long-term viability. David Klanecky is CEO and president of Cirba Solutions.
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