Article Summary
• Efforts to delay a provision that could force states to share costs for federal food assistance were not included in the final set of government funding bills passed by the House on Thursday.
• State officials now warn they are facing a rise in administrative errors, due to the last government shutdown and delayed federal guidance, which will lead to burdensome costs to states in the years ahead.
The final round of government funding bills, released by the House of Representatives this week, did not include requests from anti-hunger groups and state leaders to delay changes to federal food assistance funding, while states prepare for the potential loss of federal dollars.
Congress must pass six more appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026 by Jan. 30 to avoid another government shutdown. Text for the final bills were released by the House on Tuesday, and passed Thursday night, sending the legislation to the Senate.
Anti-hunger advocates want to end a policy put in place under the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) that will require states to pay a portion of SNAP benefits for the first time. The total cost-share will be determined by the state’s SNAP error rate, or the amount of underpayments and overpayments, which are largely due to unintentional administrative errors. State officials warn that such errors are more likely now because of the fast pace of policy changes to the federal program.
State officials warn that such errors are more likely now because of the fast pace of policy changes to the federal program.
The policy begins in October 2027, but the error rate period that could determine the cost-share is well underway. The National Governors Association (NGA) estimates that SNAP spending could increase by an average of $218 million per state if the cost-share policy takes effect on the current timeline.
The NGA and other groups, including the National Association of Counties and National League of Cities, asked Congress instead to delay the policy in one of the appropriations bills. In a letter to congressional leadership, they suggested delaying the SNAP benefit cost-share until fiscal year 2030 and use error rates starting from fiscal year 2027.
The groups also suggested excluding October and November 2025 from the FY 2026 error rates due to shutdown-related disruptions to SNAP. During the last shutdown, SNAP benefits were delayed for the first time in the program’s history. What followed was a legal back-and-forth that made things complicated for state SNAP administrators.
At the same time, these state agencies have been working to implement other SNAP policy changes included in the OBBB, like new work requirements. But making these changes by the October 2027 timeline is challenging, and USDA guidance or support has often been delayed. Anti-hunger groups and state SNAP administrators have argued these factors increase the chances for higher error rates.
It takes a year for a county case manager to become efficient in processing SNAP cases, Joy Bivens, deputy county administrator of Health and Human Services for Franklin County, Ohio, told House Agriculture Democrats during a Wednesday roundtable, and the SNAP application process is complicated and lengthy.
“With all these nuances, it is impossible to not have an error,” Bivens said.
The online system for processing SNAP applications and determining benefit eligibility takes three months to update to federal and state policy changes, she said. And until the system is fully updated with the policy changes, SNAP case managers have been manually reviewing cases, which increases the likelihood of errors.
In Ohio, where counties administer SNAP, officials don’t have access to real-time data on errors and accuracy, leaving them with little time to course-correct.
Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research and Action Center, said it was “unfathomable” that Congress did not include the extension in funding bills. While some states will be able to absorb the forthcoming costs, many won’t, she said. This leaves states with difficult funding decisions.
“This failure to act will increase hunger, strain already fragile state budgets, harm farmers and food retailers, and weaken local economies across the country,” FitzSimons said in a statement.
FRAC pushed Congress to include a reversal or delay of the cost-shift in future legislative vehicles.
The Senate will return from recess on Jan. 26 and will need to pass the final bills as well to avoid the shutdown. Congress has already passed a number of bills that include funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), shielding the agency from the impacts of another shutdown.
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