Sponsors (67)
The bill expands SNAP eligibility to more disabled and pensioned veterans—improving food assistance access for vulnerable veterans—while imposing modest additional program costs and some paperwork/verification burden for applicants and administering agencies.
Low-income veterans with higher service‑connected disability ratings or catastrophic disability determinations are explicitly made eligible for SNAP exemptions/benefits, increasing access to food assistance for those veterans.
Veterans under 65 who receive a pension under 38 U.S.C. §1521 are newly covered, preserving benefit eligibility for younger disabled veterans on VA pensions.
Clarifying VA rating thresholds reduces administrative ambiguity for USDA and state agencies, which should speed determinations and benefit delivery for eligible veterans.
Expanding the categories of veterans eligible for SNAP may modestly increase SNAP caseloads and program costs, which are ultimately borne by taxpayers.
Some applicants (and state agencies) may face additional paperwork or need to verify VA rating/pension documentation, causing short delays in benefit receipt.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Clarifies and expands veteran/disabled categories recognized for SNAP eligibility/exemptions and delays implementation until Oct 1, 2030.
Introduced March 18, 2025 by Jahana Hayes · Last progress March 18, 2025
Expands SNAP eligibility/exemption categories for veterans and certain disabled persons by clarifying service-connected disability rating thresholds and adding two new veteran/disabled categories, and sets the law to take effect on October 1, 2030. It also makes a minor punctuation/formatting edit in an existing SNAP provision. The changes primarily affect how veterans and some disabled beneficiaries qualify for SNAP exemptions or special treatment, require administrative updates by USDA and state SNAP agencies, and take effect on a delayed date to allow time for implementation.