# Plain Language Summary: Fairness for Victims of SNAP Skimming Act of 2025

This bill addresses a real problem that affects people who use SNAP benefits (food stamps). "SNAP skimming" happens when criminals steal someone's EBT card information or physically take their card and drain the benefits. Right now, when this happens, there are limits on how much money the government will replace. This bill removes those limits and says that if your benefits get stolen, you should get back the full amount that was taken from you—no questions asked and no cap on the replacement.

The practical impact is straightforward: if you're a SNAP recipient and someone steals your benefits, you won't lose that money permanently. Instead of getting a partial replacement or having to jump through hoops to prove exactly what was stolen, you'll get back everything that disappeared from your account. This matters because SNAP benefits are often the difference between eating and going hungry for low-income families, and losing them—even temporarily—can be devastating. The bill essentially says the government should make victims whole rather than leaving them short on groceries.

The change applies to how the government handles these theft cases going forward. It simplifies the process by removing previous restrictions that limited replacement amounts or required certain conditions to be met. For people who depend on SNAP to feed their families, this means one less thing to worry about if their card gets compromised—they know they'll get their full benefits back.

Fairness for Victims of SNAP Skimming Act of 2025

Meng, Grace

Fairness for Victims of SNAP Skimming Act of 2025This bill requires the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to provide for the replacement of the full amount of a household's stolen benefits.Specifically, using funds provided by the Department of Agriculture, a state agency must provide a household with replacement SNAP benefits equal to the amount of benefits&nbsp;stolen through card skimming, card cloning, or similar fraudulent methods. This requirement applies if the state agency determines that the benefits were stolen and meets certain requirements.&nbsp;Under current law, a state agency may only replace SNAP benefits that were stolen between the period beginning on October 1, 2022, and ending on December 20, 2024. Further,&nbsp;the replacement amount is limited to the lesser of the amount of (1) the benefits stolen, or (2) two months of the&nbsp;household's monthly allotment immediately prior to the date on which the benefits were stolen. Thus, this bill permanently extends the provision and provides for the replacement of the full amount of the benefits stolen.