Advocacy Update – Budget Reconciliation and SNAP in Congress
The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, in May. This Budget Reconciliation bill makes significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 135,000 Idahoans are enrolled in SNAP.
Currently, the federal government covers one hundred percent of the cost of SNAP benefits and half of the administrative costs in each state. The bill would have Idaho pay for at least 5% of the cost of SNAP benefits in Idaho. This could raise Idaho’s costs for SNAP by at least $18 million. The bill would also have the State of Idaho pay for 75% of the administrative cost of SNAP.
H.R. 1 eliminates the Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program, which funds SNAP-Ed programs that provide nutrition education and healthy eating classes for SNAP participants. The Budget Reconciliation bill would also limit the ability of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to regularly modernize the Thrifty Food Plan, which is used to determine the amount of SNAP benefits and other nutrition assistance benefits.
The bill also makes significant changes to Medicaid funding that would result in tens of thousands of Idahoans losing health care coverage.
Throughout any potential public policy changes, The Idaho Foodbank will advocate for the people we serve and support safety net programming for people in need. We are always concerned when there are additional barriers for people in need of food assistance. While this particular bill would not directly impact our operations or the supply of food we have available to our partners, cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicaid will increase reliance on nonprofits for our neighbors who are struggling to make ends meet.
The next step for the budget reconciliation process is in the U.S. Senate. You can contact Crapo and Risch to share your concerns about the changes to SNAP and Medicaid that are part of H.R. 1, the budget reconciliation bill.