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-- last administration, even before, it really occurred to us that there's no greater American who has lived the American dream in just such a remarkable way than Ben Carson. So, for me personally, it's a really banner day, an exciting day. I know for President Trump, it certainly is. But I think the people who will benefit the most and perhaps be the most excited when they understand what this means are the American people, but especially maybe our most vulnerable in America as you're going to fight for the right food, nutrition, etc., for that population.
Well, so many people who are in the lower socioeconomic groups do not get good nutrition. We're going to expand the things that are shelved, that are kept and stored that are healthy foods. And we're going to really try to look at food from its inception, from the time it's planted, how the soil is treated, by the time it is harvested, how it gets to stores, how it gets to the home, what happens to it in between -- because we want the things that happen to them between to be good things, not things that have to evaluation [Inaudible]. That's going to make a big difference for our health.
We look at many other industrialized countries, as their life expectancy is still going up, our life expectancy is coming down. We need to correct that. And I think it has a lot to do with what we need.
Dr. Carson, the other day, the president and Secretary Kennedy announced the announcement about Tylenol and autism. Most of the medical community doesn't agree with that. You're a pretty big deal in that. What are your thoughts?
Well, whenever you buy some kind of medicine, you'll notice that there's a warning label and they have this and they have that or the other -- doesn't mean that's going to happen. It means that it is a possibility that needs to be considered. And that's why we say make these decisions with your healthcare provider and help put it into perspective, because the benefit to risk ratio changes on a lot of personal information that needs to be interpreted by somebody who knows the ins and outs of the situation.
Dr. Carson, congratulations on the new position. Also, could we get you to step a little bit closer to the mic?
Yes, yes, sure.
I just want us to --
Yeah, to be able to catch it. Yes.
Could we also get your initial reactions and statements on what took place in Dallas this morning at the ICE field office?
So, this morning there was a tragic, tragic event. It's really disheartening and heartbreaking. We both were very close to Charlie Kirk. Dr. Carson spoke on Sunday. I was there in the front row. You know this time of political violence has to end. We have to come together as a country. And I think just seeing what Charlie represented and watching him since he was 18, helping him build his organizations.
You actually were on the road for Turning Point for three years speaking on college campuses. It's a really unfortunate moment again today and hopefully we can begin to move away from that. So, I'm encouraged that what Charlie stood for, what the 100-plus-thousand people that were there on Sunday, the 100 million I think views around the world, that that will begin to change some of that.
I don't know all the details, but I am aware of the shooting. I don't know, Dr. Carson, if you want to say something.
Yeah, I heard a little bit about the shooting too. Of course, we're all concerned about the increasing violence that we're seeing around us. It is clearly not the solution for differences that we have. Everybody's going to have their own opinions about everything. In the past that has not meant that we become enemies.
And it's something that we're going to have to really begin to emphasize -- just because we think differently doesn't make us enemies. In fact, you can learn a lot more from somebody who disagrees with you than from somebody who agrees with you on everything. We just need to learn how to talk to each other, it makes all the difference in the world.
Thank you. I had a question for each of you. For Dr. Carson, the changes you're talking about, how soon do you expect full concrete changes to take place? Do you have industry buy-in at this point? And for Secretary Rollins, when it comes to the hunger survey and the changes being made there, how can Americans feel confident that the government has an accurate grasp on what hunger in this country looks like?
Well, you know, you probably heard a few weeks ago the announcement by the Kellogg Company that they were considering what we were talking about very seriously and they were going to make changes. And you know, a lot of other food companies are coming on with us. I think they recognize that they have this responsibility to our population.
So, I don't think we're going to get a lot of resistance from them. In fact, they're going to be working along with us to get this done.
Well, and I'll add to that too. The stocking standards we announced about an hour ago as well. And what that means is for the SNAP -- the families that participate in SNAP from around the country, that now if you are a retailer and you are providing the food that the taxpayer dollars are used to buy that food, that we're now doubling the amount of Healthy options from 12 to 28 in every retailer.
So, for example, under the old rules, they had to carry one protein. Well, that could have been a bag of beef jerky or a protein bar, but now it has to include eggs, turkey, ham, cheese, dairy, etc. So, the opportunity, again, to fundamentally begin to transform how we are approaching the way that government programs are run, how we're making sure that those with the least among us have what they need to be able to be the next Dr. Ben Carson for this country and leading this country.
And so, that was just another step. We have the dietary guidelines coming out very soon, Dr. Carson is going to play a major role in that. We'll have a very big announcement, most likely next month, but there will be a fundamental shift in the way that we are suggesting and ultimately the DGA's drive a lot of the government nutrition programs.
So, that's coming soon. Stay tuned amongst other things. Listen, what the question was about was the hunger survey that USDA canceled recently. Our research showed -- it's not statutory, no one was asking us to do it. There are a lot of other good reports that are out there that better capture the question.
This specific survey had been used for years, we believe incorrectly, to make the case that under the last administration spending in SNAP increased, I don't know, 40, 50 percent. But even that survey showed the hunger in America only increasing 3 percent, but it continued to be used as a driver. We just felt, and the White House agreed, that it was one more waste of taxpayer dollars not being used appropriately.
We believe that USDA, and with our other counterparts across the government, HHS and others, there are many, many other surveys collecting that data.
To follow up on that question, what other survey will replace it? And were you wanting your own?
Yes, no, there are other surveys at USDA. I don't have the name, but we'll get that to you. And then across HHS and also several of the other agencies as well. So, we'll make sure and send that your way. We will not be creating a new one, just making sure that the ones that are used are the most appropriate.
We'll do one more question, y'all.
Just as a follow up to that, do you have any updates on how your department is rolling out the changes to work requirements for SNAP benefits?
We are working on that right now. Obviously, work requirements were an important part of the One Big, Beautiful Bill and ensuring that every taxpayer dollar was being spent in its highest and best use. And so, there's been a lot of narrative around the work requirements. What I will say is those work requirements that were included were for able bodied adults that could work, that didn't have children under the age of 13 or 14. So, we'll continue to build on that in partnership with the states.
Of course, they're the laboratories of democracy and more announcements on that are forthcoming. We'll do one more. Go ahead.
Appreciate it. Thank you so much, Secretary. When do you guys plan to make a decision on farmer relief?
So, the farmer relief is continuing. I've had a lot of conversations with you guys here in the gaggle on that over the last six months. Obviously, based on a couple of very unprecedented factors in the last number of years, the farmers, only 5 percent have made money over the last decade, 5 percent. It is a continuing struggle in this farm economy.
In the last administration, of course, we had the cost of inputs go up on average 25 percent, but even more than that, fertilizer increased 36 percent, fuel increased 28 percent, seeds increased 35 percent. Interest rates for our farmers -- by the way, if you're a farmer, you rely on the bank to get your harvest harvested and your next crop planted.
Those went up almost 73 percent under the last administration. At the same time, we had a trade deficit of $50 billion in agriculture just under Biden. We went from a surplus in Trump one to a massive deficit under Biden. So, that alongside of course the president's effort to realign America around American products and making all of these new deals.
We are at a point where we're looking at the harvest, where we're looking at our soybean, corn, wheat, sorghum, cotton farmers who are facing very, very difficult times. We are currently in conversations here at the White House across the government on a farmer aid package. In our current programing right now, we've got about $13 billion moving out under ECAP, which is our old farmer payment system based on losses from last year and the year before.
So, this would be in addition to that in partnership with our colleagues on the Hill, we should have an announcement very soon, perhaps in the next couple of weeks.
One last one last question -- Before you go --
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-- about the president's prayer initiative for the 250th celebration of America.
That's a beautiful thing to end on. Yeah, why don't we end on that because that's a great way to end. We were just talking about this in the last administration, obviously faith and religious liberty and working for a higher power for God, for Jesus has always been a driver for so many of us in President Trump's administration.
But we believe that even now, it's even more of a driver. And you saw that with Charlie's memorial on Sunday. We all just were called for a time such as this. We believe that we're fighting for the soul of America but also fighting for what's good and right, fighting for our God. And so, this president's next step of having prayer and services as a part of that as we celebrate America at 250, I'm just so proud to be a part of this team every single day.
Absolutely, and we are complex beings. We're not just the physical aspect; it's the mental aspect and the spiritual aspect that makes us different from other creatures. And we need to recognize that in all of our policies. And remember that America didn't become great by accident. It was because of the policies, the Judeo-Christian values that we live by. And look what happened as we began to throw those things away.
Instead of love your neighbor, cancel your neighbor -- those are not good things. So, it's good to have a government that actually realizes that and I think we will be realizing many blessings when we continue to move down the right pathway.
Perfect. Thank you all so much. Thank you, everybody.