House Republicans are moving to put stricter work requirements on food stamps in a bid to cut government waste and find taxpayer savings for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Cobbling the vast piece of legislation together takes coordination by 11 different House committees, each working on a portion of it under their panel’s jurisdiction.
The portion released on Monday night would raise the upper age limit for work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), from certain able-bodied adults up to age 54 to those up to age 64.
Whereas the current rules exempt people with dependents under age 18, the new provision would now include SNAP recipients with children above age 7 who otherwise qualify for work requirements.
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The House Agriculture Committee, which oversees federal food programs in addition to America’s farmers, was tasked with finding $230 billion in spending cuts out of a sum total of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion dollars – cuts that conservatives had demanded to offset the cost of Trump’s other priorities.
“For far too long, the SNAP program has drifted from a bridge to support American households in need to a permanent destination riddled with bureaucratic inefficiencies, misplaced initiatives, and limited accountability,” Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., said in a statement.
“This portion of the One Big, Beautiful Bill restores the program’s original intent, offering a temporary helping hand while encouraging work, cracking down on loopholes exploited by states, and protecting taxpayer dollars while supporting the hardworking men and women of American agriculture.”
The legislation also would eventually have the states cover some SNAP costs. Currently, the federal government fully covers SNAP costs for all 50 states and half the states’ administrative costs to run it.
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The new bill would impose a 5% baseline benefit cost share for all states, beginning in 2028. States with higher rates of erroneous payments would pay more as well.
It would also lower the “match rate” for which the government reimburses states for those administrative costs, from 50% to 25%.
Fox News Digital first reported in late February that Republicans were looking to heighten work requirements for food stamps via reconciliation, when similar legislation was introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a member of the Agriculture panel.
House and Senate Republicans are working on advancing Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process this year.
Reconciliation allows the party controlling both houses of Congress and the White House to move a massive piece of legislation, provided it addresses budgetary matters like spending, taxes or the national debt.
It makes that possible by lowering the Senate’s passage threshold from 60 votes to 51, lining up with the House’s own simple majority threshold – meaning Democrats are completely sidelined in the process.
Trump wanted Republicans to craft a bill advancing his priorities on the border, immigration, taxes, energy, defense and raising the debt limit.
The House Agriculture Committee, along with two other top committees, are advancing their own portions of the bill on Tuesday.
When that is done, all 11 House committees that have crafted individual reconciliation pieces will put them together into a massive bill, identical versions of which must pass the House and Senate before reaching Trump’s desk.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he wants the House to finish its portion of the effort by Memorial Day.
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