The House Agriculture Committee moved forward with a bill aimed at implementing substantial modifications to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This initiative is intended to contribute to federal budget reductions designed to fund parts of President Trump’s policy proposals.

This law mandates that states assume responsibility for part of the expenses related to SNAP benefits, tightens the criteria for qualifying for the program, and seeks to stop the federal government from boosting monthly assistance payments moving forward.

It will move on to the Budget Committee, where they will merge it with bills from other committees to create the comprehensive bill reflecting President Trump’s key initiatives.

This legislation mandates that each state shoulders a percentage of the total cost associated with the program’s benefits. The specific amount a state must contribute depends partly on its payment error rate. Those states exhibiting the smallest margin of errors would have to cover an initial five percent of SNAP benefits, whereas those facing the largest discrepancies in their payment accuracy would need to provide twenty-five percent of these benefits upfront.

Under this proposal, work requirements for capable individuals without dependents would become more stringent as well. The plan suggests raising the upper limit for these adults to keep working in order to be eligible from 54 up to 64 years old.

Republicans on the committee aimed to reduce more than $230 billion, while GOP legislators in other panels seek to decrease federal expenditures with the intention of offsetting the expenses associated with Trump’s initiatives.

Democrats have voiced opposition to the legislation, expressing concerns that it might prompt states to reduce their respective benefits.

Additionally, Democrats argue the legislation would make it more difficult for Congress to pass a bipartisan farm bill this year.

“Instead of working with Democrats to lower costs from President Trump’s across-the-board tariffs, House Republicans have decided to pull the rug out from under families by cutting the SNAP benefits that 42 million Americans rely on to put food on the table – all to fund a tax cut for billionaires,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee said in a statement.


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