I want to welcome our witnesses to the first hearing of the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture in the 119^th Congress.

Nine months into the year, 21 weeks into this session of Congress, and 9 weeks after the largest cut to food assistance in the history of our nation, here we are finally ready to explore state options in SNAP.  

Unfortunately, the problems our country faced 9 months ago have only been exacerbated by the reconciliation bill Republicans passed in July.

Americans are feeling the high food costs, higher rents, more expensive healthcare, childcare, and energy costs.

Republicans said that they were looking to address waste, fraud, and abuse but their reconciliation bill does nothing to address the actual fraud that is happening right now to SNAP recipients.

Criminals are stealing EBT card information and taking food assistance away from those it was intended for.

It did not address the need to transition EBT cards to more secure chip cards to avoid this type of theft.

And it did not address other critical issues within SNAP, like the need for college students to have access to the program.

Instead, 4 million people, including families with children, seniors, veterans, and individuals with disabilities, will see the food assistance they need to afford groceries cut substantially or taken away entirely, thanks to their reconciliation bill.  

I do not know if Republicans really understood that SNAP is county-administered in 10 States and that most of those counties pay for some or all the SNAP administrative costs for their states.

Which means that counties in states from Wisconsin to North Carolina will be stuck with a massive bill starting next year that will have to get passed on to their taxpayers.

The issues that this bill is going to create and worsen cannot be overstated.

I hope we can try and find real solutions to mess made by the Republican reconciliation bill and support states in their capacity to getting food to hungry Americans.

State options are a critical way for States to tailor SNAP to their unique needs and the needs of those they serve.

I am concerned about SNAP eligibility and accessibility now that States carry an enormous burden of the administrative and benefit cost shifts will create for them.

Broad Based Categorical Eligibility, for example, is a state option that 45 states and territories – red and blue states alike – use to ease the SNAP benefit cliff.

It allows SNAP participants who get a slight raise or pick up an extra shift to continue to receive food assistance instead of getting kicked off the program entirely and left with less money than before.

And it allows SNAP households to save more than $3,000 – the standard asset limit for SNAP – which is not even enough to cover first and last month’s rent for most families.

But, because of the Republican reconciliation bill, states might be forced to “opt out” – kicking the working families helped by this critical State option off SNAP to pay for the costs pushed onto them.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about which state options are most useful to them and the communities they represent, how those options may be impacted by the immense financial strain the Republican White House and Congress have put states and counties under, and how they believe these issues should be addressed.

Thank you, and I yield back.