House Republicans Unveil Proposed Changes to SNAP Program

As part of a bigger plan to push through President Trump’s legislative agenda, Republicans in the House introduced a bill Monday night that would make big changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The party also wants to cut government spending by a lot.

The 97-page report from the House Agriculture Committee includes ideas that would make it harder for people to get SNAP benefits, make states pay a portion of the costs of benefits, and try to stop the federal government from raising monthly benefits in the future.

The panel will meet again later Tuesday afternoon to talk about the plan in an effort to get the text out of committee.

The idea is part of a bigger plan that Republicans are putting together across several committees to carry out Trump’s tax demands, raise defense spending, carry out his deportation plans, and cut government spending by a huge amount.

As part of the party’s overall goal to save more than a trillion dollars, Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee were told to come up with ideas for cuts worth at least $230 billion.

When the bill was first introduced, the committee led by Republicans praised it on social media, saying it would return SNAP to its “original intent” and promote “work, not welfare,” while also saving taxpayer dollars and investing in American agriculture.

The plan calls for the federal government to pay 95% of the cost of allotments starting in fiscal year 2028, up from 100% in the next two fiscal years. This is despite the fact that the federal government already pays for SNAP payments.

It also has parts that allow the states’ 5% share of the cost of benefits to go up in fiscal year 2028 based on how often they make mistakes with payments.

If the mistake rate was 6 percent or higher, the states would see their share of the money go up on a rising scale that could go as high as 25 percent.

Democrats are very against the plan because they think it might make states cut programs on their own.

The plan also calls for making it harder for able-bodied adults without children to get benefits. The age at which they must continue to work to become eligible is to be raised from 54 to 64.

The bill says that the Department of Agriculture can’t raise the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which is used to figure out how much program benefits people can get, if the program is reevaluated or changed in some other way.

Republicans said that former President Biden abused his power when the 2021 TFP reevaluation led to a 21% rise in SNAP benefits. They said this went against decades of tradition that made sure the process was cost-neutral.

But Democrats have always been against laws that would make it harder for the government to raise benefits. This is especially true since studies have shown that SNAP benefits were raised during the coronavirus pandemic, which kept millions of people from falling into poverty.

Before the bill came out, Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), who is chair of the committee, told The Hill that he thought it would “honor my principles I set forward in terms of facilitating a farm bill as the first principle.”

He also said that the suggested changes have made it “more likely” that there will be an agreement on a new farm bill this year. Last year, talks between Democrats and Republicans on a new farm bill broke down. As a result, Congress agreed to extend the 2018 farm bill for another year as part of a larger deal to fund the government.

Along with a number of other farm provisions, the plan would also take some money back from the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act and cut by 25% the costs the federal government has to pay to help states run their programs.

On Monday night, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, warned that the House Republicans’ plan would make it harder for Congress to pass a joint farm bill later this year.

House Republicans have chosen to hurt families by cutting SNAP benefits, which 42 million Americans depend on to eat, all to pay for a tax cut for billionaires. They won’t work with Democrats to lower costs caused by President Trump’s tariffs that apply to all goods. What Klobuchar said

“This means that more kids, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities will go to bed hungry.” Farmers are already making very little money, so this will cost them billions of dollars. Everyone who works in the food system will lose their jobs and wages, from truck drivers to small grocery stores, she said.