EN
As CFI wrote about over the summer, H.R. 1 made massive changes to our nation’s primary hunger-fighting program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Beyond the almost $200 billion in cuts over 10 years, the largest cut in the program’s history, Congress also chose to push a portion of the cost of benefits onto states.
While the effective date for this provision is fiscal year 2028 (Oct. 1, 2027), what happened last year and this year will determine how much each state will pay next year. Congress should delay this cost share until fiscal year 2030, allowing all states time to adjust and stabilize their SNAP operations while protecting program integrity and taxpayer dollars.
Under H.R. 1, states are required to:
This payment error rate (PER) reflects both over- and underpayments made to households, but should not be thought of as a “fraud rate.” Instead, the PER mostly reflects unintentional mistakes made by recipients or the administering agency given highly complex rules around what counts and does not count as income, or how and when to adjust eligibility when certain life events occur.
Payment errors happen, and states are required to detect and fix them when they do. When they do not, they pay significant penalties.
Error rates in fiscal years 2025 and 2026 will determine how much each state will be required to pay in the first two years of the new cost-share requirement, giving almost no time to reduce error rates now.
Under the new structure:
Colorado had a 2024 payment error rate of 9.97%, meaning our state would be on the hook for 10% of SNAP benefit costs in fiscal year 2027 (and dangerously close to the 15% cutoff). In dollar terms, this would translate to $130 million.
This could not come at a worse time, as Colorado recently began its legislative session with the understanding that another massive deficit must be dealt with, some $850 million this year, following the $1 billion budget hole last year.
Put simply: Colorado needs additional time to protect SNAP and the approximately 600,000 people receiving benefits (including more than 200,000 children).
Congress has until the end of January to dodge another shutdown. The continuing resolution they must pass should include this cost-share delay in order to help all states improve payment accuracy while protecting access to food assistance for eligible low-income households.
A growing list of state-level organizations is supporting a two-year cost shift, including:
Congress should listen to the experts and include these changes in the upcoming continuing resolution.
A two-year delay will give Colorado (and every other state) time to ensure that SNAP remains stable, accurate, and focused on keeping food affordable. Without it, our legislators are stuck with a few terrible choices:
A more accountable and less cruel alternative would be to delay the cost shift by two years.
