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The Farm Bill Must Fix SNAP
The Cost Shift Delay Is Needed
Less than a year after Reconciliation 1.0 (HR.1, OBBBA), was passed, Congress has failed to correct its policy misstep on SNAP.
OBBBA cut federal food assistance to extend tax breaks for the wealthy. The 2026 Farm Bill is the last, best chance to make the needed correction.
Current estimates indicate over 4 million people, or 10% of all beneficiaries, have lost their SNAP benefits. Despite this alarming number, the most severe effects of the law are still to come, precipitated by cost shifts from the Federal Government to State Governments. States’ First-Ever Bill for SNAP Benefits Could Cost Billions, CBBP
If Congress does not act quickly, most states will have to cover hundreds of millions in SNAP benefit costs previously funded by the federal government. OBBBA changes the split calculation putting 75% of the burden on states.
Due to limited resources and especially an unrealistic timeline, some states question their capacity to have a smooth transition, others question their capacity to continue providing SNAP benefits.
Join UUSJ in urging your Members of Congress to include at least a two-year delay of this harmful cost shift in the Farm Bill.
Additional Context:
Every five years, Congress aims to pass legislation to set national agriculture, nutrition, and environmental policy, referred to as the “Farm Bill.” This legislative package is an opportunity for lawmakers to address farming and food needs while securing critical funding for agricultural and adjacent programs.
While Congress is in charge of writing and passing the Farm Bill, it’s also responsible for oversight on the policies as they are implemented across the country. Congress should be advancing our sustainability posture-- investing in rural communities, protecting families from harmful chemicals, assisting farmers and ranchers that want to move away from mono-crops and embrace diverse crops, sustainable land-use, and natural ways of production.
Changes associated with the Farm Bill were incorporated into last year's reconciliation law, H.R.1, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA). See How Recent Republican Budget Cuts Will Impact Hunger, MAZON a Jewish Response to Hunger.
The House of Representatives held a floor vote on the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026” (Farm Bill) and passed their version to the Senate for consideration. Unfortunately, that House version weakens long-standing protections for ecosystems and strips funding from conservation programs that help farmers combat climate change. It simultaneously ignores imperatives to address hunger failing to take on the harms done to SNAP in HR.1. See an interfaith letter we joined on the matter of SNAP and the Farm Bill.
We then urged the Senate to reject the harmful House bill and work toward solutions that truly invests in resilient agriculture, healthy communities, and a sustainable future, and fixes the SNAP problem. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to play its self proclaimed, historic role, of minding long term implications and protecting U.S. structures, institutions, and capacity. See the Senate Commitee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry breakdown, Farm Bill 2.0 Section-By-Section.
Therefore, this latest Farm Bill proposal's primary and most grave shortcoming continues to be its failure to reverse recent setbacks in U.S. anti-hunger initiatives.
- H.R.1 imposed a record $186 billion reduction to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
- SNAP supports 42 million people annually, alleviates poverty, enhances health, stabilizes local and regional economies, and supports children's academic performance.
- Congress should mitigate the negative impacts of OBBBA on SNAP and seek ways to enhance the program. Improvements should involve increased benefits, reduced administrative hurdles, and the elimination of exclusions preventing certain groups from accessing benefits, including those with past drug convictions, residents of U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, and legal residents.
- The harms to SNAP and its recipients is one clear reason UUSJ has joined the Covenant for Our Future.
Environmental issues are also at stake in this year’s Farm Bill.
- While the House version includes support for regional food systems, improvements to the GusNIP program that helps SNAP recipients afford healthy foods, and a few other worthwhile reforms, it also carries a provision that shields pesticide manufacturers from state labeling laws that has drawn criticism.
- Critics contend the provision would limit state and local authority in pesticide regulation, reduced accountability mechanisms, and weakening access to conservation programs that help farmers manage risk.
- In this case, as with Big Oil & Gas, in the Farm Bill, Big Ag & Chem, wants its version of immunity from actions that aim to hold them accountable for the negative health impacts. Like their brother polluters, they’re scared because accountability works.
- In addition, Title IX of the bill includes policies that would impede the growth of solar farms, raise energy costs, increase pollution, and deprive farmers of alternative sources of income--which happen to help transition away from deep reliance on Big Oil & Gas.
Additional Links and Resources
- House Passes Farm Bill with Serious Flaws; ASBN Calls on Senate to Chart a Different Course, American Sustainable Business Network
- Advocates Call on Congress To Reject House Agriculture Committee Farm Bill and Extend Current Law, Beyond Pesticides
- House GOP Continues to Worsen Hunger with So-Called ‘Farm Bill’, Charges Leading Advocates, MAZON a Jewish Response to Hunger
- New Farm Bill proposal ignores growing hunger, American Friends Service Committee
- A Deep Dive into the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, American Farmland Trust
- House-Passed Farm Bill Falls Short, Environmental Defense Fund
- House passes the 2026 Farm Bill with key county priorities, National Association of Counties
UU Grounding
As of General Assembly 2024, as Unitarian Universalists, we have agreed to “adopt new language on core religious values.” We agree love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. The values we share include all the following, which we hold as inseparable and deeply interconnected: Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Transformation, Generosity, and Equity. (Read more on the Article II revision process.)
With these agreed core religious values in mind, we also ground our call to action related to health, hunger and poverty issues in the following Unitarian Universalist Statements:
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Organizing for Health Equity, 2023 Action of Immediate Witness
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Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience
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The COVID-19 Pandemic: Justice. Healing. Courage, 2021 Action of Immediate Witness
- Escalating Economic Inequity, 2017 Statement of Conscience
- Single Payer Health Care, 2008 Action of Immediate Witness
- Addressing the Health Insurance Crisis, 1998 Action of Immediate Witness
- Universal Health Care, 1992 General Resolution
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Ending Hunger, 1987 General Resolution
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Hunger, 1980 General Resolution
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A National Health Plan, 1979 General Resolution
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National Health Plan, 1971 General Resolution
The Farm Bill
Must Fix SNAP
The Cost Shift Delay
Is Needed
Join UUSJ in urging your Members of Congress to include at least a two-year delay of this harmful cost shift in the Farm Bill.
OBBBA cut federal food assistance to extend tax breaks for the wealthy. The 2026 Farm Bill is the last, best chance to make the needed correction. Current estimates indicate over 4 million people, or 10% of all beneficiaries, have lost their SNAP benefits since OBBBA passed and changed the split calculation putting 75% of the burden on states.
Reject the House Version,
Pass a Farm Bill that Works for Farmers, Communities, and the Environment
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