House Reconciliation Proposal for Shifting SNAP Costs to States

The House reconciliation bill proposes to make an unprecedented change to the structure of SNAP by forcing states to pay for a share of benefit costs for the first time ever. Starting in FY28, states would be required to pay for a minimum of 5% of SNAP benefits and up to 25% of benefits depending on the state's most recent payment error rate. 

Additionally, the House reconciliation bill proposes to require states to pay for a greater share of SNAP administrative costs, increasing from a 50% cost share now to 75%. 

This one-pager aims to provide states with a sense of what their new state responsibility would be compared to their current responsibility. It shows the FY23 payment error rate, the percentage of benefits the state would need to cover based on the payment error rate, the state share of FY23 administrative costs (the current total state responsibility), and the projected state responsibility if the state had to cover 75% of FY23 administrative costs plus the specified percentage of FY24 benefits.

For information on other provisions of the House-passed reconciliation bill, see this overview: Summary of the Proposed Changes to SNAP in the Agriculture Title of the House Reconciliation Bill.