Some weak GOP senators balk at SNAP proposals in the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

Fiscal responsibility-averse Republican senators signaled opposition to a proposal in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act that would shift a fraction of benefits’ costs to the states.

“… I heard some members voice concern …”

Ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, House Republicans achieved the deadline objective of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and narrowly passed the OBBB Act to the upper chamber. While President Donald Trump cheered the accomplishment, mixed opinions in the Senate included concerns about the impact the legislation could have on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The current language of the legislation would require the individual states to cover some of the costs of SNAP benefits, as the federal share would go from 100% to 95% beginning with fiscal year 2028. Additionally, “any state that has a payment error rate … equal to or greater than 6 percent but less than 8 percent, shall have its Federal share of the cost of allotments … equal 85 percent, and its State share equal 15 percent.”

“That’s something that I heard some members voice concern about. So, we’ll need to address that,” said Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Arkansas Sen. John Boozman (R) of states having to cover some of the costs of SNAP, The Hill reported. The incorporated sliding scale went as high as 25% based on payment error rates.

While accepting the language as it stood hasn’t been ruled out, the senator suggested members, “want to look specifically at how those particular policies will affect their individual states.”

“Some of that we know, some of it we don’t,” he added.

Likewise, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven (R) told the outlet, “That’s in the we’ll see category. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that.”

“We’re going to talk to committee members who can talk to our caucus as a whole,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) voiced his own issues with the benefits program as he called on Elon Musk’s advisory team with the Department of Government Efficiency to root out the problems in SNAP.

“Taxpayers are on the hook for $400 million/day in SNAP funding, and the program is riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse,” Paul posted to X in calling for DOGE to get “involved so we know how widespread this issue is.”

Rand Paul calls on Musk to probe SNAP over massive waste allegations. MAGA asks, why would he? https://t.co/QF8FQOtQyK via @BIZPACReview

— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) May 23, 2025

Of course, identifying the waste was a far cry from correcting the problem, as many pointed out regarding the House GOP’s failure to codify the cuts recommended by DOGE thus far.

“We’ve seen that when states actually focus on error rates, they can bring them down very quickly, and obviously that’s what we want, but we don’t want people who are not eligible for the program receiving payments. These error rates are too high,” expressed South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson (R), as FY 2023 had a national payment error rate near 12%, with the majority of states having rates exceeding 6%.

Despite the rampant waste and proposals to tame it, Democrats turned to demonization as they’ve argued that the Congressional Budget Office analysis showed that states could ultimately end up cutting benefits as it stipulated “some states would maintain current benefits and eligibility and others would modify benefits or eligibility or possibly leave the program altogether because of the increased costs.”

The CBO estimated, “Subsidies provided through child nutrition programs would decrease for about 420,000 children in an average month, reducing direct spending by about $700 million over the 2028-2034 period.”

As House Agriculture Committee ranking member, Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig (D) put it, “The Republicans’ budget will make America hungrier, poorer, and sicker. Parents struggling to afford groceries for their families and seniors living on fixed incomes will have their food taken away if this bill becomes law.”

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

Latest posts by Kevin Haggerty (see all)

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.