Polis, anti-hunger groups raise objections to proposed SNAP Changes

Gov. Jared Polis has major concerns about cuts to federal food aid that Republicans in the Senate are proposing.

Polis, along with local hunger and agriculture groups, has written to Senate Agriculture committee leaders and members of the Colorado Congressional delegation to say that changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would “both erode the fundamental infrastructure of our food safety net and transfer an unanticipated and severe financial burden to states at a time of extreme budgetary constraints.”

The House proposed that states pay between 10 to 25 percent of the program’s costs, with a state’s payment error rate determining where it falls on that scale. The Senate’s proposal shifts the state share down a bit, so that they would be picking up from 5 percent to 15 percent, depending on their error rate. Any state with an error rate below 6 percent would not have to chip in at all. As of 2023, only seven states had an error rate below 6 percent.

Colorado’s error rate for the 2023 fiscal year was 8.61 percent. Under the House proposal, it would have to pay 15 percent of the costs, while under the Senate plan, it would have to pay 10 percent.

“The new match requirement and changes contained in H.R. 1 would cost Colorado hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds annually – up to $360 million in the House-passed version and up to $200 million in the currently proposed Senate version – a cost that represents both an abrupt reversal of the federal-state compact and an unmitigated financial burden that would likely require cuts to SNAP, extreme reductions to other critical state-funded initiatives, or likely both,” the letters said.

Approximately 617,000 Coloradans utilize SNAP benefits each month. Libby Trieble, a single mother of four in Colorado Springs, said the program has helped her family.

“It would be harmful, I believe, on these families out here that are just making it by to survive. These kids don't deserve it,” she said during a SNAP roundtable led by Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet and anti-hunger advocates.

Madalene, a Durango delivery driver who did not give her last name, has a five-year-old child and has utilized SNAP. “If we're going to look for ways to reduce waste and increase efficiencies in the government, stripping away at a vital lifeline for our communities is just illogical,” she said.

GOP Sen. John Boozman, chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry committee, defended the proposed cost-sharing, saying, “This bill takes a commonsense approach to reforming SNAP—cutting waste, increasing state accountability, and helping recipients transition to self-sufficiency through work and training. It’s about being good stewards of taxpayer dollars while giving folks the tools to succeed.”

Colorado officials have emphasized the state would not be able to absorb the additional SNAP costs without cuts elsewhere. The state operates under a balanced budget amendment, as well as TABOR, which constrains growth of state and local government revenue and spending.

“This provision is simply a budget gimmick in Washington, D.C., and a devastating blow to states,” wrote Polis and the others, which include Hunger Free Colorado, Colorado Counties Inc., Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and Mile High United Way, among others.

Historically, states have split the administrative costs of the SNAP program, taking on half. But even there, Republicans in Congress want to up the state share.

The Senate and the House plans both increase the state’s administrative cost share to 75 percent and both expand work requirements for able-bodied adults up to 64 years of age. The Senate tweaked its proposal by not applying the work requirements to parents with children under the age of 10. The House’s version has exemptions for parents with kids under the age of 7.

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, who serves on the Senate Ag committee, said Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill approach to SNAP represents “the largest cuts that have ever been proposed and it would have a material effect on communities throughout Colorado, both urban and rural.”

Republicans are pursuing budget reconciliation to make spending and revenue changes with Republican votes alone.

All four of Colorado's GOP House members, Reps. Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, Gabe Evans and Jeff Hurd, voted in support of the bill, including the SNAP cuts, in late May. The Senate is hoping to pass its version by the end of the month.