WASHINGTON — Republicans on Capitol Hill have revised the food benefit cut that was deemed ineligible for their so-called Big Beautiful Bill by the Senate rules referee.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), chair of the committee that oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, announced on Tuesday that the Senate parliamentarian had OK’ed the new version.
“This paves the way for important reforms that improve efficiency and management of SNAP while encouraging responsible use of taxpayer dollars,” Boozman said in a release.
The original proposal, which was essentially killed by the parliamentarian on Friday, would have required states to share in the $100 billion annual cost of SNAP benefits based on their rates of erroneous payments.
Under the fast-track “budget reconciliation” process Republicans are using to pass their massive bill of tax and spending cuts, measures deemed “extraneous” by the parliamentarian are subject to the Senate’s 60 vote threshold, meaning Republicans have to drop them from the broader legislation if they want to pass it with a simple majority vote.
