Media Contact:
Jordan Baker
jbaker@frac.org
980-290-7282
Statement attributable to Crystal FitzSimons, president, Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
WASHINGTON, August 1, 2026 — The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) is deeply disappointed that Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Boozman’s Farm Bill proposal fails to protect the millions of children, older adults, people with disabilities, veterans, and working families who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to put food on the table. The proposal delays the SNAP benefit cost shift to states enacted in H.R. 1 by only one year and does not even address the administrative cost shift. The proposal will further strain state budgets and force states to make impossible choices, such as paying for education or transportation, or keeping people fed. Some states may opt out of the program altogether, deepening America’s hunger crisis and weakening our economy.
States with SNAP payment error rates over 6 percent would begin paying a share of benefit costs in 2029, while states with rates of 10 percent or more would face a 20 percent benefit cost share beginning in 2031. The proposal would give states just a little more time to come up with the money. To be clear, error rates reflect administrative mistakes, changing household circumstances, and staffing challenges. Punishing states for these challenges while reducing the resources available to struggling families is counterproductive and shortsighted.
The cost shift comes on top of a massive increase in SNAP administrative costs, also included in H.R. 1., and not addressed in the proposal. States will be required to cover 75 percent of SNAP administrative expenses, instead of the 50 percent match previously required.
States cannot afford to take on this burden, and struggling families cannot afford to lose food assistance.
Nearly 5 million people already have lost access to SNAP because of H.R. 1 at a time when families are facing some of the highest grocery prices in years while the costs of housing, utilities, health care, child care, and transportation continue to rise.
SNAP remains the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program and a proven economic engine for communities, farmers, grocery stores, and food retailers.
We urge the Senate Agriculture Committee to reject this SNAP proposal and move forward a Farm Bill that strengthens both American agriculture and SNAP, the nation’s first line of defense against hunger. We cannot afford to go backward in the fight against hunger; instead, we need to build a nation free from hunger.
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The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) improves the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the United States through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions. To learn more, visit FRAC.org and follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.