The bill increases SNAP stability for low-income people and supports employment transitions (including refugees) by excluding certain program earnings from countable income, while modestly raising SNAP spending and leaving some veterans without the same exclusion.
Low-income households and program participants (including refugees) keep more of their earnings and receive higher SNAP benefits because earnings from covered work, training, vocational rehab, and refugee employment programs are excluded from countable income, reducing benefit cliffs and supporting immediate household food security.
Participants in employment, training, and vocational rehabilitation programs are better able to transition into work while retaining SNAP eligibility, which encourages workforce participation and can improve long-term self-sufficiency.
Excluding earnings from countable income will modestly increase SNAP outlays, which could raise costs for taxpayers and federal/state budgets.
The carve-out does not apply to income from certain veterans' education and retraining programs, creating unequal treatment that may disadvantage veterans compared with other trainees.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Excludes income from specified work, employment & training, vocational rehabilitation, and refugee employment programs when calculating household countable income for SNAP.
Introduced May 15, 2025 by Kirsten Gillibrand · Last progress May 15, 2025
Excludes earnings from certain work, employment & training, vocational rehabilitation, and refugee employment programs when calculating household countable income for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It also removes and renumbers an existing subsection and updates a related cross‑reference in the Food and Nutrition Act statute. The change does not create new funding or deadlines and does not specify an effective date.