Sponsors (3)
The bill improves measurement, transparency, and program-integrity tools that could make poverty statistics and SNAP administration more effective, but it increases data sharing, state and federal administrative costs, and tougher participation rules that risk privacy harms and benefit losses for vulnerable households.
Low-income households and policymakers will get more accurate, transparent poverty statistics and benefit valuations because surveys and an expert commission will capture participation and cash-equivalent values of a wide range of federal benefits and publish annual comparisons of official, supplemental, and alternative measures.
SNAP participants and states will see stronger program integrity because clearer retailer-fraud rules, disqualification tools, and EBT authorized-user registration can reduce unauthorized use and protect benefits for eligible households.
Individuals whose PII is shared for research will have stronger legal protections because the bill strengthens confidentiality rules and adds criminal penalties for improper disclosure.
Low-income individuals face increased privacy risk because the bill requires collecting and linking detailed tax and benefit PII across agencies and annual transfers of recipient lists, which raises the chance of misuse or breach despite added protections.
State governments and taxpayers will face substantial new administrative and IT costs because valuing many noncash benefits, producing alternative poverty metrics, linking PII, and complying with increased state matching (phased up to 50%) require staffing, systems, and ongoing operations.
Tougher work requirements, added paperwork, and stricter fraud-cooperation conditions risk benefit loss for people who cannot comply due to caregiving, health, transportation, or scheduling barriers, harming vulnerable households and children.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Expands Census data collection on federal benefit participation and tightens SNAP definitions and work requirements, including spouse-hour caps and a narrower definition of "food."
Introduced March 27, 2025 by Josh Brecheen · Last progress March 27, 2025
This bill requires the Census Bureau to expand the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey to collect individual- and household-level data on participation in a long list of federal benefit programs beginning in fiscal year 2025, and it changes how poverty-related income and resource measures are defined and verified. It also revises the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) law to add new policy goals, narrow the statutory definition of qualifying "food," tighten and restructure work and work-preparation requirements (including new spouse-hour caps and geographic rules), and orders a USDA report to Congress using recent years of program data. Overall, the measure combines changes to federal statistical data collection and definitions with substantive changes to SNAP program rules that are likely to affect program administration, participant eligibility and behavior, data access for researchers, and reporting to Congress.