‘Devastating.’ How proposed SNAP cuts could impact Alabama

WASHINGTON — Alabama could have to pay millions of dollars each year to partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under a Republican proposal to cut money from the program to help offset tax cuts. 

The House Agriculture Committee’s section of President Donald Trump’s budget bill aims to cut $290 billion from SNAP over the next decade. Lawmakers advanced the legislation Wednesday night after the committee began its markup Tuesday evening. 

The proposal would shift some costs associated with SNAP benefits and administrative costs to states. Since the program began, the federal government has fully funded the food assistance benefits.

Feeding Alabama CEO Laura Lester said shifting part of the costs of SNAP to Alabama could be detrimental to the program, potentially cutting off benefits for Alabamians. The plan could also jeopardize the state’s budget. 

“This is going to impact not only people who are struggling and who are hungry, but it’s going to impact rural grocery stores, the people they employ, farmers, truckers, everyone involved in this program, it’s not just about the people,” Lester told Alabama Daily News. “It’s about entire communities in Alabama and those who need help the most.” 

The minimum share each state would pay for SNAP benefits under the plan is 5%. Lester said at that 5% cost share rate, Alabama would be responsible for about $90 million a year.

The cost share for states would be determined by their fiscal year 2026 payment error rate. Alabama had a SNAP payment error rate of about 7% in fiscal year 2023, the latest available data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Using Alabama’s 2023 error rate under the proposal, Alabama would be responsible for 15% of the cost of SNAP benefits starting in fiscal year 2028. 

U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, who sits on the Agriculture Committee, said he doesn’t see how the state would be able to pick up that additional cost.

“I think the state of Alabama receives a little north of a billion dollars in SNAP benefits annually,” Figures told ADN. “If you offload any percent of that, that’s a huge chunk of our state budget, and it can’t work there.”

Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, who also represents Alabama on the Agriculture Committee, said shifting some of SNAP’s costs to states will encourage them to “have some skin in the game.”

“There has to be a carrot-stick program, as I call it,” Moore told ADN. “So the carrot is, hey, we’re going to provide this money. The stick is, you’ve got to manage it. If we’re finding fraud, you’re going to be accountable for fraud, and that’s taxpayer money.”

Under the proposal, starting in fiscal year 2028, states that have higher SNAP error payment rates would pay a higher share of the benefits. Republicans argue this would incentivize states to prevent “waste.”

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The GOP proposal would also shift more of the administrative cost burden to the states, increasing the state share from 50% to 75%. Lester said she didn’t have an exact number for how much that increase would cost Alabama, but said it would be millions of dollars. She said it’s hard to predict what these cuts would be like in the state, but said more people could go hungry. 

“It would mean people dropping off the program,” Lester said. “It would mean much fewer benefits.” 

During the budget bill markup, Figures said one in four households in his district receive SNAP benefits. He said the proposed cuts would exacerbate hunger. 

“…adding these administrative burdens and other resource cuts, we’re going to increase the error rates that we’re trying to reduce and further penalize the states for doing that,” Figures said.

More than 700,000 Alabamians receive SNAP benefits, including more than 333,590 children.

The legislation expands work requirements for people who receive SNAP benefits. 

“We want to make sure that able-bodied people are working,” Moore told ADN. “The program was really designed to help the people who are in poverty, the moms, disabled, the veterans, elderly, whatever the case may be.” 

Lester said work can fluctuate for people who are struggling. She said putting additional requirements on people who receive benefits will be hard for them and the state administering the checks. 

“Putting that kind of bureaucratic hurdle in the churn is so hard for individuals, but also for the state, and it really just means that people are falling between the cracks,” Lester said.

The Alabama Department of Human Resources, which administers SNAP, said it was “monitoring this discussion.”

The House Budget Committee will markup the agriculture section along with the other committees’ pieces of the budget bill on Friday before the full House votes on the legislation. 

This story is from aldailynews.com.