The chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee said Thursday he is considering some respite for states that must start sharing costs under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Arkansas) told NOTUS the issue is part of negotiations with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), the panel’s ranking member, on a way forward on the Senate’s version of a farm bill.
Democrats have asked for a two-year delay in the cost shift to states with SNAP payment error rates above 6%, an increase scheduled to start next year. Republicans have preferred to leave the changes made to SNAP in a 2025 reconciliation law.
“I think what we’re looking at is possibly a short-term extension,” Boozman told NOTUS.
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“We’ve been talking to Sen. Klobuchar, talking to the administration, seeing if the time we’ve given is adequate. Nothing has been finalized,” he said.
Boozman didn’t specify how long a delay could be, only referring to it as “short-term.”
Boozman has said the committee will mark up the farm bill late next week. Boozman’s office said the final version of the Senate farm bill is still being worked through but will be released soon.
Klobuchar previously said she was having “productive negotiations” on the farm bill. Her office said Thursday there was nothing to add, but that “there is a lot of work left to do.”
Only 9 states and the Virgin Islands had error rates below the 6% threshold. The changes in the reconciliation law require states to pay for a portion of the implementation of SNAP if their error rate exceeds that level.
“What we want to do is make sure that we have rules that states can actually get. I think the states understand, and they are working really hard to get their error rates down,” Boozman said.
Sen. Jim Justice (R-West Virginia), a member of the committee, welcomed the potential delay. West Virginia’s error rate in 2025 was just above 6%.
“There are states that are going to be so impacted, it’s unbelievable. And West Virginia is going to get hit to the tune of tens of millions,” Justice told NOTUS. “I think what we need is a graduated runway. But working together and having some form of extension, with all the other stuff that we want on our side, I think that’s the way to go.”
West Virginia is just one of many Republican states facing high payments for their error rates. Boozman’s home state of Arkansas sits at above 8%, and several mayors in the state have called on Boozman to provide an extension and protect SNAP more broadly.
Other Republicans on the committee weren’t immediately sold by the idea. Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) told NOTUS that the idea would land in the “we’ll see column.”
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