SNAP Reform and Upward Mobility Act of 2025
SNAP Reform and Upward Mobility Act of 2025
Plain Language Summary
# SNAP Reform and Upyard Mobility Act of 2025 — Summary **What the Bill Would Do** This bill would make significant changes to how the federal government measures poverty and manages food assistance. It would require the Census Bureau to collect detailed information about federal benefits people receive and use that data to create a new way of calculating the federal poverty level. The bill would also create a commission to recommend how to count federal benefits when determining if someone is living in poverty. Additionally, it would expand work requirements for people receiving SNAP (food stamps), requiring more recipients to work or participate in work-related activities to continue receiving benefits. **Who It Affects and Key Changes** The bill primarily affects people receiving SNAP benefits and would expand work requirements significantly.
Currently, most SNAP recipients must work or participate in work activities if they're ages 16-59; this bill would extend that to age 64. For able-bodied adults without dependents (a category with stricter requirements), the age range would expand from 18-55 to 18-64. The bill includes some exemptions to these work requirements, though specific details about those exemptions aren't fully outlined in the summary provided. **Current Status** The bill (S 1197) is currently in committee as of the 119th Congress and has not yet been voted on by the full Senate.
CRS Official Summary
SNAP Reform and Upward Mobility Act of 2025This bill amends how U.S. poverty levels are determined and modifies Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility and enforcement provisions.The Bureau of the Census must (1) collect specified data regarding the receipt of federal benefits and individual income, and (2) use the data to provide an alternative poverty measure. The bill also establishes a commission to recommend the valuation of specific federal benefits for the purpose of estimating the Federal Poverty Level.The bill also expands the applicability of the general work requirements for SNAP recipients to include those who are ages 16-64 (currently 16-59) with exemptions.This bill also expands the applicability of the work requirements for SNAP recipients who are able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) to include those who are ages 18-64 (currently 18-55). In general, ABAWDs have work requirements in addition to the general SNAP work-related requirements and are limited to receiving 3 months of SNAP benefits in a 36-month period, unless the additional work-related requirements are met. Further, the bill allows married individuals with a dependent over the age of six to jointly fulfill hour-based work requirements.Additional changes to SNAP includerequiring states participating in SNAP to contribute specified matching funds, beginning at 10% for FY2025 and increasing annually until the matching requirement reaches 50% for FY2033 and each subsequent fiscal year;requiring SNAP beneficiaries to participate in fraud investigations; andestablishing penalties (e.g., benefit suspensions) for unauthorized uses of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.
Latest Action
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.