Sponsors (2)
The bill increases SNAP access and benefit amounts for participants in certain training and employment programs by excluding those payments from countable income—helping low‑income households and program participants—while modestly raising program costs, requiring administrative updates, and still leaving some veteran payments subject to counting.
Low-income households (including many families and individuals on SNAP) will be able to qualify for larger SNAP benefits or remain eligible because specified work‑program payments are excluded from countable income.
Participants in vocational rehabilitation, veteran re‑training, and refugee employment programs can access SNAP without those program payments reducing their benefits, supporting job recovery, training completion, and economic stability for these groups.
USDA/FNS and state agencies gain clearer rules about which program payments are non‑countable income, reducing disputes and simplifying benefit calculations.
Some veterans receiving GI Bill or VRAP‑related payments may still have certain payments counted, which could reduce SNAP benefits for affected veteran households.
Excluding specified program income from countable earnings will modestly increase SNAP outlays, creating higher costs for taxpayers and the federal/state budgets.
State agencies must update eligibility systems and staff training to implement the rule, producing short‑term administrative costs and possible processing delays for applicants.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced May 15, 2025 by Kirsten Gillibrand · Last progress May 15, 2025
Excludes payments, allowances, or earnings from many work, employment-and-training, vocational rehabilitation, and refugee employment programs when counting household income for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) employment & training eligibility and benefit calculations. It also leaves certain veteran education work programs as exceptions and makes minor technical changes to reletter existing subsections in the Food and Nutrition Act. The change likely raises SNAP eligibility or benefit levels for households receiving those targeted program payments, requires states to update income-counting rules, and removes a current subsection while renumbering others for consistency.