'Make Texas Healthy Again': Gov. Abbott signs RFK Jr. approved bills

Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Aug 27, 2025

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U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott were together in Austin on Aug. 27, cheering a healthier Texas as the governor ceremonially signed bills dealing with food stamps, school lunches, food labeling and health education.

The signing fell on the same day the Texas House approved legislation that would make ivermectin, a medication used to treat some parasites, available over the counter. The medicine has also been used to treat COVID-19, though it’s not FDA approved for that purpose and hasn’t been shown to be effective.

Kennedy said he supports that bill and praised the new laws spotlighted by Abbott during Wednesday’s news conference. The governor had previously signed the bills into effect, so Wednesday’s signing was symbolic.

“You’re not only making Texas healthy again, you’re making America healthy again,” Kennedy said.

The bills signed include Senate Bill 25, the “Make Texas Healthy Again” act that embeds “nutrition education across k-12 schools, higher education, and the health care workforce,” according to Abbott’s office. It also includes food warning label requirements for certain ingredients.

Additionally, Abbott signed Senate Bill 314, barring certain additives from meals provided through free and reduced breakfast and lunch programs, and Senate Bill 379, which bans the purchase of sugary snacks and drinks, such as soda, with SNAP benefits.

Abbott said the legislation puts Texas on a healthier path, crediting Kennedy with galvanizing healthier living movement.

“Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund chronic health problems in our state,” Abbott said, touting bipartisan support for the bills.

During his remarks at the Capitol, Kennedy, whose uncle was former President John F. Kennedy, linked chronic illness to unhealthy foods.

“We have more chronic disease than any country in the world, and we know what it is, and we know it’s the food that we’re eating, it’s environmental causes,” Kennedy said. “Genes don’t cause epidemics. They may provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin, and we know it’s the food primarily that we’re eating.”

Kennedy called the ivermectin legislation “a really good bill” and said that “Americans should have a choice,” when asked about the proposal.

The proposal was a later addition to Abbott’s special session agenda. Lawmakers are currently meeting in their second special session of the summer. The bill would let Texans access ivermectin without a prescription. It was advanced from the House following an hours long, tense debate, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

The bill next heads to the Senate for consideration in committee and, if advanced, on the floor.

“Whenever we tell doctors that their job is to no longer treat that patient, but to treat all of society, that’s when we get this kind of medical tyranny that is brutal and savage and merciless and lethal,” Kennedy said.