Republicans are defending recent legislation aimed at incentivizing states to fight erroneous payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) \u2014 but Democrats are picking a fight over a last-minute change they argue encourages states to have higher error rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legislation passed out of the GOP-led Congress on Thursday that could see some states pay a share of benefit costs for SNAP, also known as the food stamps program, for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal government currently covers the cost of benefits, but under the plan that\u2019s been tossed around by congressional Republicans over the past few months, some states would have to cover anywhere between 5 percent and 15 percent of the benefits costs if they have a payment error rate above 6 percent \u2014 which factors in over-and-underpayments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, changes were made to the text that allowed delayed implementation for the cost-share requirements for states with the highest error rates shortly before its passage in the Senate this week. GOP leadership sought to lock down support from Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski\u2002<\/u><\/a>and Dan Sullivan,<\/u><\/a> whose state had the highest payment error rate in the country in fiscal year 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sen. John Hoeven\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-N.D.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said Republicans made the change to comply with chamber rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have to give those states time to adjust because about all they\u2019re going to do is get down to that midrange, and then they\u2019re still going to have to pay a penalty because they\u2019re so high,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s about giving states a fair chance to adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the plan that was greenlit by Congress on Thursday, some states would begin contributing a share of benefit costs in fiscal year 2028, depending on their payment error rate. But the plan also allows for delayed implementation for two years for states with payment error rates if they reach around 13.34 percent or higher \u2014 an effort Republicans say is aimed at providing states like Alaska with much higher rates to bring them down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hoeven said the GOP-led agriculture committee, which crafted the SNAP pitch, \u201ccame up with a lot of proposals\u201d trying to comply with restrictive rules governing a special process that Republicans used to approve the plan in the upper chamber without Democratic support. Under the rules, Hoeven said, \u201cthey always said you got to give states time to adjust in order to meet the test.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans say the overall proposal is aimed at incentivizing states to reduce erroneous payments. But Democrats have sharply criticized the plan, arguing it would encourage states with higher error rates to continue making erroneous payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe most absurd example of the hypocrisy of the Republican bill: they have now proposed delaying SNAP cuts FOR TWO YEARS ONLY FOR STATES with the highest error rates just to bury their help for Alaska: AK, DC, FL, GA, MD, MA, NJ, NM, NY, OR. They are rewarding errors,\u201d Sen. Amy Klobuchar\u2002<\/u><\/a>(Minn.), top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, wrote this week as she sounded off in a series of posts on X<\/u><\/a> over the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In another swipe at the plan, Sen. Brian Schatz\u2002<\/u><\/a>(D-Hawaii) wrote on X<\/u><\/a> that he had to text his state\u2019s governor that 10 states with \u201cthe MOST ERRORS in administering the program\u201d are \u201cexempt from food assistance cuts,\u201d at that Hawaii is not exempt because the governor has done \u201cgood work in reducing the error rate by 15 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The comments come as Democrats and advocates have argued the measure could lead to states having to cut benefits because of the shift in cost burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent figures unveiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed Alaska\u2019s payment error rate hit 24.66 percent in fiscal year 2024. The national average was 10.93 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Murkowski said after the vote<\/u><\/a> that she didn\u2019t \u201clike\u201d the bill but sought to \u201cto take care of Alaska\u2019s interests.\u201d But she also said she knew \u201cthat, in many parts of the country, there are Americans that are not going to be advantaged by this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t like the fact that we moved through an artificial deadline, an artificial timeline to produce something, to meet a deadline, rather than to actually try to produce the best bill for the country,\u201d she said. \u201cBut when I saw the direction that this is going, you can either say, \u2018I don\u2019t like it and not try to help my state,\u2019 or you can roll up your sleeves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans also criticized Democrats for challenging a previous GOP-crafted SNAP provision that sought to provide more targeted help to Alaska, as GOP leadership sought to win Murkowski\u2019s support for the bill, which ultimately passed the Senate in a tie-breaking vote. However, Democrats opposed previously proposed waivers for the noncontiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii, decrying \u201cspecial treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In remarks on Wednesday, House Agriculture Chairman Glenn Thompson\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Pa.) the Senate \u201chad to add something to get to address that challenge that Alaska has.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe goal is, from a functionality perspective, they need to get their error rate down as soon as possible, because when the time comes, and they have to start to pay, they don\u2019t want to be that high error rate that you\u2019re coming in now,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn most states, Alaska would be a challenge, I think, but most states have been under 6 percent at one time in past years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he also wasn\u2019t \u201ccrazy about\u201d work requirements exemptions for some Indigenous populations in the Senate\u2019s version of Trump\u2019s megabill that didn\u2019t appear in the House bill, as Republicans seek to tighten work requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s what the Senate had to do,\u201d he said, though he noted that \u201ceconomic conditions are challenging on those sovereign lands and in high unemployment, high poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s unclear whether the carve-outs were the result of talks Alaska senators had with GOP leadership around SNAP in the days leading up to the Senate passage. The Hill has reached out to their offices for comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Alaska has \u201cone of the largest indigenous populations in the nation,\u201d with Alaska Natives representing 17 percent of the state in\u20022010<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, the Senate bill nixed temporary exemptions that had been preserved in the House bill for former foster youth, homeless individuals and veterans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite being preserved in the House plan, Thompson criticized the carve-outs, which were secured as part of a previous bipartisan deal in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt cheats all those individuals from having access to that to us funding their SNAP Employment and career and technical education, because the whole goal here is to raise these people out of poverty if they\u2019re struggling in poverty, because that\u2019s how you qualify for SNAP,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the fact is, they were made ineligible for the really great benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other proposals in the party\u2019s SNAP plan seek to limit the federal government\u2019s ability to increase monthly benefits in the future, changes to work requirements and include a chunk of farm provisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The plan comes as Republicans sought to find ways to generate north of $1 trillion in savings of federal dollars over the next decade as part of a major package that also advances President Trump\u2019s tax agenda, which is estimated to add trillions of dollars to the nation\u2019s deficits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans say the proposed spending reductions, which are achieved also through changes to programs like Medicaid, are aimed at rooting out \u201cwaste, fraud and abuse\u201d in the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n