# SNAP Reform and Upward Mobility Act of 2025: What You Need to Know

This bill makes significant changes to how the government measures poverty and manages the SNAP program (food stamps). The changes are substantial and would affect millions of Americans who receive government assistance.

The first major part of the bill changes how the government calculates poverty rates. Currently, the government counts only cash income when determining if someone is poor. This bill would require the Census Bureau to also count the value of government benefits like food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance, and tax credits when measuring poverty. For example, if you receive $200 in SNAP benefits each month, that would now be counted as income when determining your poverty status. The bill also requires the government to collect detailed information from all federal benefit programs to create a more complete picture of people's total resources. This could make poverty rates appear lower on paper, since government benefits would be counted as income, even though people's actual cash in hand wouldn't change.

The second major part makes significant changes to SNAP itself. The bill strengthens work requirements, meaning more people would need to work or participate in job training programs to receive benefits. It also gives states more power to remove people from the program and allows states to keep money they recover from fraud cases instead of returning it to the federal government. Additionally, the bill restricts who can use SNAP benefits cards and requires stricter compliance with fraud investigations. These changes would likely make it harder for some people to qualify for or maintain SNAP benefits, and could reduce the number of people receiving assistance. The bill also requires states to contribute more matching funds to employment and training programs, which could strain state budgets.

Overall, this bill represents a significant shift toward tighter eligibility requirements and work mandates for food assistance, while also changing how the government measures whether these policies are actually reducing poverty.

SNAP Reform and Upward Mobility Act of 2025

Brecheen, Josh

SNAP Reform and Upward Mobility Act of 2025This bill amends how U.S. poverty levels are determined and modifies Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)&nbsp;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&nbsp;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&nbsp;(currently 16-59) with exemptions.This bill also expands the applicability of the work requirements for SNAP recipients&nbsp;who are able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs)&nbsp;to include those who are ages 18-64&nbsp;(currently 18-55). In general, ABAWDs&nbsp;have work requirements in addition to the general SNAP work-related requirements&nbsp;and are limited to receiving 3 months of SNAP benefits in a 36-month period,&nbsp;unless the additional work-related requirements are met. Further, the bill allows married individuals with a dependent over the age of six&nbsp;to jointly fulfill hour-based work requirements.Additional&nbsp;changes to SNAP include<ul><li>requiring 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;</li><li>requiring SNAP beneficiaries to participate in fraud investigations; and</li><li>establishing penalties (e.g., benefit suspensions) for unauthorized uses of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.</li></ul>