A sign announcing the acceptance of SNAP benefits at a grocery store in Fargo, North Dakota, on July 7, 2026. (Photo by Ceilidh Kern for the North Dakota Monitor)
WASHINGTON – Advocates and public health experts on Wednesday called on congressional Republicans to implement a two-year delay in requiring states to begin sharing the cost of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
Provisions of the Republican-backed bill signed by President Donald Trump last year, which take effect in October 2027, would require states with high SNAP error rates – the percentage of benefits that are overpaid, underpaid or go to ineligible beneficiaries – to begin covering some of the program’s costs. This marks a stark change for SNAP, which is funded solely by the federal government.
During an online briefing hosted by the left-leaning think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the American Academy of Pediatrics and Invest in Louisiana, speakers said Congress should utilize government financing process to protect American families’ access to affordable food.
Sharon Parrott, the center’s chairwoman, said Republicans are “looking past this emergency” and are taking advantage of their opportunities current budget resolution to support farmers struggling with increased costs from Trump’s tariffs and oil prices that have soared as a result of the war with Iran – but not to support low-income grocery shoppers.
“Republican leaders in Congress are ignoring the urgent need to help low-income families and children who are losing SNAP and cannot afford groceries,” she said. “Congress could use the budget process to help both farmers and families. Congress must at least slow down the rush to implement the massive shift of SNAP costs to the states.”
She said that since the GOP bill, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, changed SNAP eligibility requirements, more than 4.5 million people have stopped receiving food assistance benefits. Nearly a third, or 1.5 million, are children.
Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated changes to SNAP would reduce federal spending by nearly $190 billion over the next 10 years.
Local leaders deny the allegations
Wednesday’s briefing follows similar calls from community organizations and state and local leaders across the country.
On Monday, the United States Conference of Mayors sent a letter to the leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee to ask them to reconsider SNAP changes made over the past year and shift funding to the states.
“At a time when many Americans continue to face economic challenges, we should be working to expand opportunity and food security, not create new barriers to aid,” reads the letter signed by more than 200 mayors.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Monday that Republicans and Democrats must work together to craft a farm bill that restores SNAP and protects food assistance funding.
Schumer added that he would not support any farm bill that did not give states more time to prepare to bear the costs of the program.
Time is running out for Congress to stop the cost change.
The Chamber’s deliberations are scheduled to adjourn on Friday, and the sessions will resume only on August 31. Even then, the meeting will return for a few weeks before being suspended again for almost all of October. The Senate will adjourn after the first week of August and will similarly be absent in early September and almost all of October.
All about error rates
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will require most states with an error rate greater than 6% to cover between 5% and 15% of the total cost of benefits. Countries with an error rate of less than 6% will be excluded.
However, some states with the highest SNAP error rates – around 13.3% or higher – will receive deadline extensions to lower error rates before they are required to pay some of the program’s costs. Depending on the level of error, countries will be given a maximum of two years to start sharing costs.
“Congress can take immediate action to stop the bleeding and move us away from the looming child hunger crisis by extending the same two-year delay to all states, not just the few that benefit from existing carve-outs,” said Ty Jones Cox, vice president of the Center for Budget and Policy on Food Assistance.
According to data from the states with the highest error rates in FY 2025, Alaska, at 23%, and Delaware and New Mexico, both around 16%. Data from the US Department of Agriculture.
Cox said the center estimates that nearly half of U.S. states will likely have to pay $100 million or more because of cost-sharing changes.
These are huge costs, she said. “States are working hard to reduce error rates, but they are up against a wall. The law has not given them the time or resources to do so.”
Cox said states that plan to maintain SNAP benefits will have to find funding from other sources if they can’t generate more revenue. She said some states may choose to eliminate summer EBT or end universal school meals to continue funding the program.
Given the high costs, some states, such as Alabama, are considering cutting SNAP programs altogether if they can’t reduce error rates, Parrott said.
Impact on public health
The effects of losing SNAP benefits go beyond food insecurity, said Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
He said that in addition to neat air and water and a supportive family and environment, food is the most essential factor in a child’s health and future success.
Racine added that SNAP’s long-term benefits are not taken into account when making decisions about its future.
“The benefits of SNAP go to that child, to that family, but also to the people around them,” he said. “[If] you have a child who is not suffering from hunger in the classroom and his attention span has improved, which has an impact on his classmates who are not on SNAP.”
