Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2025

Summary

Replaces the Thrifty Food Plan as the calculation basis for SNAP benefit amounts with a new “low-cost food plan,” sets how that plan is defined and updated, and changes how benefit levels and related program values are adjusted each year. It also creates a standard medical deduction option for elderly and disabled SNAP members, removes the cap on excess shelter deductions, adds and indexes a commodity funding amount, and makes many conforming edits across food and tax statutes to reflect these changes. The bill changes formulas, indexing, and administrative rules that affect SNAP allotments, medical and shelter deductions for participants, USDA commodity funding, and state administration through a mix of immediate statutory substitutions and recurring update requirements (annual adjustments and periodic market-basket re‑evaluations).

• Replaces the Thrifty Food Plan with a new statutory “low-cost food plan” as the basis for SNAP allotments.
• Sets a benchmark four-person household for the market basket and requires reevaluation by Dec 31, 2029 and every five years thereafter.
• Requires annual October 1 benefit adjustments using June cost data with state and Alaska/Hawaii cost and household-size scaling.
• Adds a $35,000,000 commodity amount and indexes certain commodity funding to changes in the low-cost food plan.
• Creates an optional standard medical deduction of $140 (FY2023) for elderly/disabled SNAP members, indexed to CPI–Medical Care.
• Removes the statutory cap on excess shelter expenses, potentially increasing shelter-related deductions for high-cost households.
• Increases a benefit calculation proviso from 8% to 10% and revises quality-control and transition recalculation rules.
• Strikes and renumbers a subsection of the Food and Nutrition Act and updates multiple cross-references in other federal statutes.
• Requires administrative updates by USDA and state agencies and may raise federal program costs depending on resulting allotment changes.