House Republicans on Monday proposed a series of sharp restrictions on the federal prevention program known as the Food Stamp, and sought to limit funding and benefits as part of a vast package to promote President Trump's tax cuts.
The proposal, which is included in the draft action for the House Agriculture Committee to consider this week, will require states to supply some of the food stamp funding, while enforcing more beneficiaries to get jobs in exchange for federal aid.
The move could potentially lead to millions of low-income families losing access to safety net programs. But GOP leaders argue that their cost cuts will help cover the costs of Trump's expensive legislative ambitions while improving the provision of food stamp benefits.
House Republicans said in a statement Monday that their proposals would “enact long-term accountability incentives to strengthen jobs, eradicate waste, manage costs and end management and state overreach.”
The Republican overhaul specifically covers the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, with a budget of around $110 billion a year. It is the federal government's largest nutrition support initiative, providing an average allocation of 42 million people per month for 2025, according to latest data from the US agricultural sector.
Advocates of the Food Stamp Program say it has long served as an important lifeline for low-income families by preventing hunger in a country where around one in seven people reported food instability at some point in 2023, according to federal data released in September.
Republicans have long denounced the snap elements, claiming that the state is mishandling federal money in a way that allows people who shouldn't qualify for assistance. These concerns have prompted Republicans to strengthen food stamp eligibility in 2023. This is primarily by requiring more adults to get employment, to gather federal support.
Not satisfied with the early outcomes of these constraints, House Republicans on Monday took the first step to tighten them up even more.
Republicans proposed expanding existing work requirements to cover food stamp recipients up to age 64, including at least 7-year-olds, as part of their upcoming package to cut taxes and reduce federal spending.
This corresponds to a major expansion of existing laws. This currently requires beneficiaries up to the age of 54 to work in exchange for SNAP, excluding those with dependents. Although researching similar Republican proposals in recent years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that labor requirements and other regulations could lead to millions of subscribers losing access to the program. (Budget Watchdog has yet to release an analysis of the party's latest proposal.)
Republicans also proposed limiting nutrition aid to US citizens and green cardholders only. For the first time, the state will need to fund the federal food stamp program starting in 2028. The Republican proposal would seek to limit future administrations to increase the benefits low-income Americans receive with nutrition aid.
The Republican proposal is likely to anger Congressional Democrats and anti-poverty groups, many of whom are seeking more generous federal nutrition aid. Additionally, some states have recently shown that they may struggle to cover program cost shares, potentially reducing the availability of benefits.
“Slashing billions of dollars from snaps will deepen hunger, increase poverty and weaken our communities,” said Crystal Fitzsimons, interim president of the Food Research & Action Center, advocacy group. “Instead of shifting costs to the state, knowing that the state cannot take these additional costs, instead of reducing snaps, we need to have access to the nutrition that everyone needs to thrive.”
