Published February 25, 2026

Updated March 20, 2026

On March 5, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 was reported out of the House Agriculture Committee. The bill fails to reverse the unprecedented $187 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enacted through the budget reconciliation law, H.R. 1. 

This vote marks a dangerous escalation. Seven Democrats joined Republicans in advancing the bill out of committee, an outcome that cannot be repeated as the process moves forward. 

The next step is consideration by the full House, which is deeply concerning. At the same time, the Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to begin work on its version of the Farm Bill, with timing dependent on House action. 

FRAC’s advocacy is therefore twofold and urgent: 

1. prevent this harmful Farm Bill from reaching the House floor; and 

2. if it does advance to the House floor, use the FRAC Action Network to send an email directly to your House Members urging a “no vote” on the Farm Bill.   

Anything less risks cementing historic SNAP cuts into long-term law. 

The Farm Bill’s Purpose and the Compact It Represents 

Every five years, Congress reauthorizes the Farm Bill, an expansive legislative package that governs the nation’s food and agricultural systems. Though often described as an agriculture bill, it is equally a nutrition, rural development, conservation, and public health bill. 

The Farm Bill reflects a longstanding bipartisan recognition that agricultural abundance and food security are inseparable. When families can afford food, farmers have stable markets. When farmers thrive, local economies grow. That compact is now under strain.  

What the Farm Bill Covers and Why SNAP Is Central 

The Farm Bill is organized into titles, each governing a different policy domain: 

  • Nutrition (Title IV) — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commodity assistance, and related programs 
  • Commodities — direct payments and price supports for specific crops 
  • Crop Insurance — federal subsidies for private crop insurance companies 
  • Conservation — land stewardship and environmental programs 
  • Rural Development — infrastructure and economic investments 
  • Research, Forestry, Trade, and Energy — additional agricultural priorities 

Traditionally, SNAP accounted for the largest share of Farm Bill spending, because it was understood that nutrition assistance reaches tens of millions of Americans and serves as an automatic stabilizer during economic downturns. SNAP reduces hunger, improves birth outcomes and chronic disease management, lowers health care costs, and stimulates economic activity. During downturns, each SNAP dollar generates up to $1.80 in economic activity. It supports farmers, grocers, truckers, and food manufacturers across rural and urban communities alike.  SNAP was never meant to be a “side program,” but central to the agricultural economy itself and the national security of our country. 

The Damage From H.R. 1 and the Failure to Repair It 

The Farm Bill reported out of committee comes directly on the heels of the budget reconciliation law, H.R. 1, which included the largest SNAP cut in history, $187 billion, and fundamentally reshaped the federal-state partnership. 

H.R. 1 converted SNAP from a fully federally funded, countercyclical program into a volatile state liability, just as states face rising health care costs and slowing revenues. 

While SNAP faced historic cuts alongside health care and higher education, H.R.1 delivered substantial benefits to large companies and wealthy individuals. While the changes in H.R. 1 also ensured that Americans would not have access to economic mobility programs, the wealth transfers enabled billionaires’ wealth to expand, even for non-American-owned companies. H.R. 1 also provided approximately $62 billion in new or enhanced agricultural subsidies, including expansions of Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC), as well as enhanced crop insurance subsidies. 

The current Farm Bill proposal does nothing to undo this damage. 

The Current Proposal: Concentrated Benefits, Widespread Harm 

This proposed Farm Bill is not about the small family farmer most Americans envision. It is about concentrated benefits flowing to large agribusiness interests — even as millions of working families face tightened access to food assistance.  

The Farm Bill advanced by the House Agriculture Committee   is moving forward without restoring any of the damage inflicted by H.R. 1. 

It fails to: 

  • Reverse any of the $187 billion SNAP cut. 
  • Restore the federal administrative cost-share to 50 percent. 
  • Eliminate punitive benefit cost-sharing tied to error rates. 
  • Protect state budgets and local economies from unfunded mandates. 

Instead, it pursues harmful policies, such as privatizing SNAP eligibility functions, despite documented evidence that prior privatization efforts increased delays, errors, and wrongful denials. 

States and families need less red tape and more stability, not outsourcing schemes that undermine program integrity. 

This is not a funding constraint. It is a policy choice. The H.R. 1  vote made clear where certain policymakers stand. The question now is whether Congress will double down on that choice or take a different course.  

What a Responsible Farm Bill Must Do 

At a minimum, any Farm Bill must restore SNAP to where it stood on July 3 — before H.R. 1’s unprecedented rollback. 

That also means, instead of trying to claw back minimal protections under H.R. 1, the Farm Bill should include the evidence-based legislative priorities that anti-hunger advocates have been clamoring for, such as:   

1. Strengthen Benefit Adequacy

  • Base SNAP allotments on the Low-Cost Food Plan. 
  • Eliminate the shelter deduction cap, which negatively affects working families by limiting the amount of shelter costs that households can claim unless one of their members is 60 or older or has a disability.   
  • Streamline medical deductions for older adults and people with disabilities. 

2. End Punitive Time Limits

  • Permanently eliminate the three-month time limit for adults unable to document sufficient work hours. 
  • Recognize that decades of evidence show work requirements do not increase long-term employment but do increase hunger and administrative costs. 

3. Ensure Equity for Students, Veterans, Families, and Individuals Reentering Society 

  • Remove the harsh requirement that full-time students with low incomes must work at least 20 hours to qualify for SNAP, ensuring college students with low incomes are treated equally. 
  • Exclude housing allowances for military families from SNAP income calculations. 
  • Lift the lifetime SNAP ban for individuals with drug felony convictions. 
  • Allow SNAP to be used for hot prepared foods at authorized retailers. 

4. Protect Immigrant Families

  • Advance the Lift the Bar Act to remove arbitrary five-year waiting periods for lawfully present immigrants. 

5. Modernize and Secure the Program

  • Fund EBT chip card transition.  
  • Permanently extend stolen benefit replacement. 

6. Defend Program Integrity and Transparency

  • Stop unlawful data collection demands. 
  • Reinstate USDA’s Household Food Security report to preserve accountability. 
  • Halt the disruptive USDA reorganizations that undermine program administration.  

7. Ensure Parity

  • Allow participation in both SNAP and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). 
  • Create a pathway for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to access SNAP. 

This Is About Parity and  America for All 

Americans with low incomes, working families, veterans, older adults, and children deserve the same respect afforded to billionaires and corporate agricultural interests. 

America was built for everyone, not only for those with concentrated wealth and political influence. 

SNAP is a federal commitment rooted in law and economic reality. It feeds families, stabilizes local economies, and strengthens the agricultural sector. Weakening SNAP weakens farmers, retailers, hospitals, and rural communities. 

A Farm Bill that locks in wealth at the top while stripping food assistance from working families is not a balanced policy. It is a betrayal of the bipartisan compact that has sustained food and farm legislation for generations.  

Take Action Now! 

FRAC, along with its network of anti-hunger advocates around the country, has always worked to protect and strengthen SNAP in every Farm Bill cycle. This time, we must not only advance improvements, but also the restoration of what was unjustly taken. 

We will not support any Farm Bill that fails to, at a minimum, restore SNAP to its pre-H.R. 1 structure and funding. 

Congress faces a clear choice: 

  • continue down a path that shifts costs to states, destabilizes families, and protects concentrated wealth; or 
  • reaffirm that hunger has no place in the wealthiest nation on earth. 

Advocates must act immediately:  

1. Use the FRAC Action Network to send an email directly to your House Members urging a “no vote” on the Farm Bill if it advances to the House floor.   

2. Contact your state delegation, governor, and budget officer, and encourage them to reach out to their congressional colleagues and demand that no Farm Bill move forward without SNAP relief.  

3. Schedule meetings with your Members of Congress and urge them to protect and strengthen SNAP and food assistance programs.