Senate torpedoes GOP’s SNAP cut scheme to stick states with the bill

Senate Republicans’ plan to push a large part of food aid costs onto state governments has hit a major legal obstacle. This idea, which aimed to force states to pay some of the costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, has been completely blocked by a decision from the Senate parliamentarian. This ruling is a major setback for Republican goals, forcing them to rethink their entire budget strategy as they work through the challenges of their legislative priorities.

The key decision came from an advisory issued by Senate Budget Committee Democrats on Friday night, which shared the parliamentarian’s conclusion. Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, decided that the cost-sharing plan broke the rules of the Byrd Rule. This rule defines what can be included in the reconciliation process, a faster way to pass certain laws.

According to Politico, breaking the Byrd Rule means the proposal can no longer avoid a filibuster and would instead need 60 votes to pass, a much harder hurdle. This procedural problem has serious consequences for Senate Republicans, who spent a lot of time and effort developing this cost-cutting idea. Now, they must start over, looking for other ways to make the spending cuts needed for their big legislative package, a challenge that has already been debated for months.

Another filibuster may be incoming for the Senate

This controversial cost-sharing plan started with House Republicans, who first pushed the idea. Their proposal suggested a new system where states would, for the first time, help pay for SNAP benefits. The amount each state would pay wouldn’t be fixed but would instead change based on how often the state made errors in running the program.

From the beginning, this bill faced strong pushback. State leaders across the country reacted negatively, worried about the financial strain and added complications it would create. Even within the Republican party, support wasn’t unanimous, showing disagreements and doubts about whether the plan would work and what political risks it carried. Despite these early problems and widespread criticism, the Senate Agriculture Committee had recently proposed a smaller, adjusted version of the House Republicans’ original cost-sharing plan.

They hoping to fix some concerns while still saving money. But now, this revised version has also been stopped. Losing this cost-sharing plan creates a big financial problem for Senate Republicans as they try to pay for their policy goals and a large $67 billion farm bill package. The cost-sharing idea was supposed to be a major way to cover much of the needed budget savings.

Without it, Republicans now face a tough challenge in finding enough cuts to fund their legislative plans. The committee’s bill, which included the now-rejected cost-sharing part, had not yet gotten a final savings estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. This big, beautiful bill has only gotten uglier as time has gone on.