WASHINGTON (June 12, 2025) The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee has released its bill text for budget reconciliation legislation, passed in the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R.1. Within it, the Senate adopted much of the House’ proposals which would result in cutting and severely curtailing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) ability to address food insecurity across the country.
The Senate budget text, released on Wednesday, modestly scales back some proposals while maintaining policies that would severely impact populations facing hunger. The Senate legislation would still cut SNAP by an estimated historic $211 billion over the next decade.
As with the House legislation, the Senate proposal would require states to pay a portion of benefits and additional administrative costs, disproportionally impacting food insecure people and families who live in states struggling with tight budgets and higher poverty rates. Further, adding this burden to states will impede the program’s current flexibility to react to economic downturns and shocks.
The proposed legislation also restricts the US Department of Agriculture from making needed adjustments to the Thrifty Food Plan – the baseline calculation used to set benefit levels for SNAP. Such restrictions would hinder attempts to update the calculation in line with changes in diet and the cost of nutritious foods at a time when the current administration is voicing support to “make America healthy again.”
Additionally, the Senate legislation adopts House proposals to increase work requirements for older Americans and parents of children as young as 10 who cannot reasonably stay at home alone. States are also restricted in their ability to request work requirement waivers in communities and regions facing economic hardship.
“Both the House and Senate proposals ultimately lead to increased hunger and further economic strain on families and communities,” states Eric Mitchell, president of the Alliance to End Hunger. “As with the House legislation, this utterly fails the ‘do no harm’ test and must be rejected.”
