July 21, 2026

Senator Bill Cassidy, Chairman
Senator Bernie Sanders, Ranking Member

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
428 Senate Dirksen Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Cassidy and Ranking Member Sanders,

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will soon be considering S. 5026, the Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act of 2026.  On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge committee members to oppose this legislation.

S. 5026 may have a tantalizing title, but its attempt to address a complex disease are nonserious and nonsensical. Introduced by Ranking Member Sanders (I-Vt.), it would require food and drink products that contain “high-intensity sweetener” and products that are considered “ultra-processed food,” a “sugar-sweetened beverage,” or other food products deemed to be “junk food,” to have a warning label printed on the front of the packaging.  The definitions will be left to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  If members of Congress believe that these products are so dangerous that they need warning labels, they should decide what they mean and include those definitions in the legislation.  And once “junk food” has a warning label, the door is open to the same excessive and ineffective regulation and labeling of other products and services.

Warning labels for alcohol and cigarettes were based on decades of research and analysis of the impact of those products.  No such determination has been made for “junk food,” especially when that term is going to be defined after the legislation has been passed.

S. 5026 would also grant the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) new authority to regulate advertising of food and drinks that contain sugar and would ban “child-directed advertising” (also not defined) of sugary food and drinks. This mandate will increase manufacturing, packaging and compliance costs for food and beverage companies. The legislation also extends these labeling requirements to online retailers.  These costs will be passed on to consumers and disproportionately hurt low and middle-income earners.

The bill also provides the FTC rulemaking authority over children’s advertising, which, like the labeling requirements, infringes on corporate speech based on undefined standards.

S. 5026 would fail to reduce childhood obesity or diabetes, increase government control over personal choice, raise costs for consumers, and set a dangerous precedent for determining what else Congress will tell parents to do or not to do when raising their children. For these reasons, I urge you to oppose S. 5026.  All votes related to this legislation may be among those considered for CCAGW’s 2026 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

cc: Senate HELP Committee Members