Sponsors (9)
Want my take on what this bill would do?
This is not an official government website.
Copyright © 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Removes the federal work requirement for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility and updates related cross-references in federal statutes. The change takes effect 180 days after the law is signed and does not include new funding or an explicit cost estimate.
35,000,000 people, including over 10,000,000 children, suffered from hunger even before the COVID–19 pandemic began.
Analyses show that 50,000,000 people, including 17,000,000 children, could go hungry due to the effects of the COVID–19 pandemic.
As of December 2020, food insecurity among White households with children was 24.2 percent, while 38.6 percent of Latinx households and 40.6 percent of African-American households with children suffered from food insecurity.
Black and Hispanic children were twice as likely as White children to live in households without enough to eat, entering the COVID–19 pandemic at a disproportionate risk of going hungry.
Adults who identify as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or multiracial were twice as likely as White adults to report that their household did not get enough to eat.
Who is directly affected and how:
SNAP participants and eligible low-income households: Removing the federal work requirement means fewer grounds for disqualification or sanction based on work status. People who had difficulty meeting work rules (because of caregiving, disability, unstable housing, limited job access, or other barriers) will face fewer federal eligibility barriers and may retain or regain benefits.
Children, seniors, and people with disabilities: The bill reiterates that these groups benefit from SNAP and would be protected from potential work‑requirement–related losses; in practice, removing the requirement reduces the chance that caregivers or household members lose benefits that affect children and other dependents.
Racial and marginalized communities: The findings call out disproportionate harms to Black people and others; removing the requirement aims to reduce those disparate impacts by eliminating a federal policy element shown (in the bill's findings) to fall unevenly on certain groups.
People experiencing homelessness: Those with unstable housing who historically struggled to meet work‑requirement rules would no longer face that federal barrier to SNAP eligibility.
State agencies and program administrators: Administrative workload tied to enforcing, documenting, and tracking work requirements should decline; agencies will need to revise eligibility processes, notices, reporting, and IT systems to align with the statutory change. Conforming edits to related statutes will require coordination with tax and workforce program offices to ensure consistent cross-references.
Workforce and employment programs: Cross-reference edits to workforce law do not create new obligations but may change linkage points between SNAP and workforce-program rules; operational coordination may need updating.
Budgetary and program-level impacts:
Uncertainties and implementation notes:
Strikes subsection (o) of 7 U.S.C. 2015 and redesignates existing subsections (p) through (s) as subsections (o) through (r), respectively.
In section 5(a) of the Food and Nutrition Act (7 U.S.C. 2014(a)), in the second sentence, replaces the parenthetical reference “(r)” with “(q)”.
Makes targeted deletions within subsection 2015(d)(4): removes specified text in subparagraph (B)(ii)(I)(bb)(DD) and removes specified occurrences in subparagraph (N).
Strikes specified text in 7 U.S.C. 2016(i)(1) as shown in the amendment.
Amends 7 U.S.C. 2025(h): in paragraph (1) replaces the matter preceding clause (i) of subparagraph (B) and subsequent text through the end of clause (ii) with the phrase “that is determined and adjusted by the Secretary,” strikes subparagraph (E), redesignates subparagraph (F) as (E), and removes specified text in clause (ii)(III)(ee)(AA) of the redesignated subparagraph (E); and in paragraph (5)(C) adjusts punctuation and clause structure by adding “and” at the end of clause (ii), replacing the end of clause (iii) with a period, and striking clause (iv).
Amends section 51(d)(8)(A)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code: in subclause (I) replaces the terminating ", or" with a period; replaces the introductory matter preceding subclause (I) by striking the phrase beginning with "family—" through subclause (I) and inserting the word "receiving"; and strikes subclause (II).
In 29 U.S.C. 3113 (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act section 103(a)(2)), deletes subparagraph (D) and redesignates subparagraphs (E) through (K) as subparagraphs (D) through (J), respectively.
In 29 U.S.C. 3151 (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act section 121(b)(2)(B)), strikes clause (iv) and redesignates clauses (v) through (vii) as clauses (iv) through (vi), respectively.
Expand sections to see detailed analysis
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced May 6, 2025 by Peter Welch · Last progress May 6, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced in Senate