Accountable Produce is Medicine Act of 2026

The bill proposes a demonstration model under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which is within the spending power of Congress under Article I, Section 8, Clause 1, to provide for the general welfare. However, the Constitution requires that such spending be for the general welfare, not for particular or local interests, and that it not exceed the enumerated powers. The bill's purpose—reducing chronic diseases through produce prescriptions—appears to serve the general welfare by promoting public health, but the means must be rationally related to that end and must not infringe up…

I cannot give my sanction to this bill, for it would draw unto the federal government a power not delegated by the Constitution. The health of the people is a concern reserved to the several States, and nowhere in the enumerated powers of Article I, Section 8 do we find authority to command the testing of medical models within the federal agencies. The general welfare clause is not an unlimited commission to do whatever Congress deems expedient; it is confined to the objects enumerated in the Constitution. To permit such a law would be to make the federal government the judge of its own powers…

The proposed legislation seeks to direct the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test a model for reducing chronic diseases through produce-based interventions. The Constitution grants Congress power to provide for the general welfare and to spend for that purpose, but such power is not unlimited; it must be exercised in a manner consistent with the enumerated powers and the principles of federalism. The conditional nature of my opinion arises from the need to ensure that the model respects the boundaries of federal authority over interstate commerce and does not intrude upon the re…

This bill is a valid exercise of Congress's power to provide for the general welfare through the spending power, as it amends the Social Security Act to direct the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test a model aimed at reducing chronic diseases. The Necessary and Proper Clause authorizes Congress to enact laws that are appropriate and plainly adapted to the execution of its enumerated powers, including the administration of federal health programs. The bill does not exceed the scope of federal authority, as it operates within the established framework of Medicare and Medicaid, wh…