Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) and fellow Agriculture Democrats hosted a roundtable featuring Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) stakeholders from the state and county level. Watch the roundtable here.

Panelists included Joy Bivens, the Deputy County Administrator of Health and Human Services for Franklin County, Ohio; Larry Braasch, the Deputy Division Director for the New Jersey Department of Human Services; and Daniel Giacomi, the Division Director for the Connecticut Department of Social Services.

The roundtable discussion focused on how decisions made by USDA during the government shutdown and severe delays in issuing H.R. 1 (the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”) implementation guidance have put states and counties in an untenable position. As a result, it will be impossible for states to avoid the unfunded mandates handed down by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans through cuts to SNAP in H.R. 1, which saddled state governments with $65 billion in additional SNAP administrative costs and, for the first time in history, food assistance costs.

“Life under Trump is too expensive. Inflation is up, groceries are increasingly unaffordable for too many Americans and the job market is stagnating,” said Ranking Member Craig. “Congress needs to stop picking winners and losers. We need to look out for Americans who need food assistance today, as well as for those who may unexpectedly lose their job or fall on hard times in the future. Cutting the heart out of SNAP puts states and counties in the impossible position of deciding between cutting food assistance for seniors and children, raising local tax rates or even opting out of the program entirely.”

The National Governors Association recently estimated that annual SNAP expenditures could increase an average of $218 million per state if payment error rate data collected during the shutdown period is not excluded from cost-shift calculations.

A coalition of state and local stakeholders recently urged Congress to delay the cost-shifts.

Before H.R.1 became law, various Republican officials also called attention to the looming crisis should these cost-shifts be enacted.

“We want to be partners with the federal government,” said Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz in an interview with Politico Pro’s Morning Agriculture. “Work with us, and we'll save you money. I don't like unfunded mandates.”

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey told reporters that his state “can’t just absorb all of the reductions or changes” stemming from cuts to SNAP in H.R. 1.

The law also rewards states with the highest error rates by delaying their cost-shifts – directly undermining Republican claims that the changes to program funding were made to ensure accountability.