The reconciliation law enacted in July 2025 (H.R. 1; P.L. 119-21) included significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Among these was a provision requiring states to pay a portion of SNAP benefit costs based on their fiscal year (FY) 2025 or FY 2026 error rates. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) released FY 2025 error rates in June, which indicated an annual cost shift of $9.4 billion to states for SNAP benefits (Issue Brief 26-14). A second draft of the Senate farm bill, which has yet to be successfully reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee, would alter the SNAP benefit cost-share provisions in H.R. 1, including delaying implementation until FY 2029 and increasing cost shares for states with the highest error rates.
This Issue Brief summarizes changes to state SNAP benefit cost-sharing proposed in the Senate farm bill. It also provides estimates of new state SNAP benefit costs based on FY 2025 error rates.
