House Republicans are backing a proposal that could shift a significant portion of the cost for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, to the states as part of spending cuts to pay for President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, a move that conservatives say could become a model for other federal social safety net programs.
If Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” makes it through the legislative process, the food stamps proposal could save the federal government $192 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
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Republicans have incorporated a multitude of changes to social safety net programs in the legislation they are advancing through budget reconciliation, a legislative process that allows for bills to bypass filibusters and pass with a simple majority once they reach the Senate.
SNAP, the largest anti-hunger program nationwide, has traditionally been solely federally funded, and state leaders have expressed concerns that introducing cost-sharing will harm state budgets.
Matt Weidinger, a senior fellow on safety-net policies for the American Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner that state-federal cost-sharing policy changes will likely be the Republican go-to for welfare reform efforts as the party attempts to address the rising debt.
“How much should federal taxpayers have to bear towards the cost of these benefits? I would argue, in the long run, the answer is going to have to be less,” said Weidinger. “States are in significantly better financial shape than the federal government is, and this is going to be one way the federal government is going to try to shore up some of its finances.”
The bill stalled during a Friday afternoon House Budget Committee vote after protestations from fiscal conservatives, who say the spending cuts do not go far enough to address the ever-growing federal debt.
Here are four things to know about SNAP and how the proposed changes will affect states.
SNAP feeds more than 42 million people
As of fiscal 2023, an average of 42.1 million people across the country participated in SNAP each month, according to the Department of Agriculture. The program cost approximately $113 billion in federal spending, and beneficiaries received roughly $212 per month.
Nearly two-thirds of SNAP households in fiscal 2023 received some form of unearned income from other social safety net programs, such as Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, or other programs. Roughly 26% of SNAP households had earned income.
More than one in five individuals in Washington, D.C., use SNAP benefits, the second highest rate in the country.
New Mexico has the highest SNAP participation rate, at 23%. Louisiana is third with 19.6%, and West Virginia is fourth with 17.4%.
States would bear more costs for inefficiency
The new policy would require states to contribute at least 5% of SNAP benefit costs, but would use a sliding scale based on the percentage of improper payments during the prior year.
Improper payments in the context of the bill refer to over- and underpayment errors. In practice, overpayment errors are exceedingly more common than underpayments, according to USDA records.
Starting in fiscal 2028, states with improper payment rates between 6% and 8% would pay for 15% of SNAP program costs. States with improper payment rates between 8% and 10% would pay 20% of program costs, and those with even higher payment errors would cover 25% of benefits costs.
“They’re saying that we want all states to bear some costs of SNAP benefits, but if states, in effect, don’t run a really tight ship in terms of improper payments in the SNAP program, then they should bear aggressively higher shares of the costs,” Weidinger said.
SNAP improper payment rates are currently high
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, South Dakota is the only state that has not slipped above the 6% mark for improper payments since 2003.
In 2023, Alaska’s improper payment rate was nearly 61%, with the vast majority being overpayments. New Jersey’s was nearly 36%.
Only seven states — Idaho, Iowa, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — had improper payment rates below the 6% threshold in 2023. Over half of the states had improper payment rates over the 10% threshold.
Weidinger said that sharp penalties for improper payments will incentivize states to develop a more efficient and accurate system.
The way the policy is designed “sends a signal to states that you will bear some of the costs of having more people on benefits than is necessary,” he said.
“I think that would be a good thing to have the states generally be more sensitive to bigger caseloads so that they’re more aggressive in helping people move on with their lives and not need to depend on SNAP and not remain on SNAP for long periods of time,” Weidinger said.
State governments are concerned
State government associations have opposed the cost-sharing measure loudest, saying it would endanger the program.
Timothy Storey, CEO of the National Conference of State Legislatures, wrote to the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday that although there is much room to improve program integrity, the conference does not support a punitive approach to cost-sharing.
Storey said the NCSL instead supported “federal incentives that move away from a system based on error rates to one that awards bonuses for accuracy and resources to identify and correct problems in SNAP administration.”
DEMOCRATS LAY INTO REPUBLICANS OVER WORK REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAID AND SNAP
“NCSL urges a carrot rather than stick approach to quality control,” wrote Storey. “State legislators are committed to improving program integrity but cannot do so effectively if their hands are tied by unfunded federal mandates.”
Opponents of the cost-sharing measure also note that increasing work requirements for SNAP benefits adds additional administrative challenges for states to manage, increasing the likelihood of errors.