work requirements and eligibility changes<\/a> alongside funding cuts have already come into effect, the NTFB is advocating for adjustments to two additional policy changes set for October 2026 and 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\nFederal nutrition assistance programs fall under the Farm Bill, the latest version of which is set to expire in September. The House recently passed their version of the bill, while the Senate is deliberating over theirs, Clarke said. Once passed, the Senate and House will reconcile their versions to produce the final bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n
NTFB\u2019s legislative advocacy<\/p>\n
The food bank is advocating for adjustments to impending SNAP changes to be included in this bill. Thus far, the Senate\u2019s draft, introduced June 23, does not make these adjustments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first policy NTFB is advocating to change is a potential increase in states\u2019 share of SNAP administrative costs from 50% to 75%. This shift could require Texas to pay an\u00a0additional $117 million upon going into effect Oct. 1, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Clarke is also advocating for states to receive more time to address paperwork errors made by applicants or the state that cause over- or under-paying benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Oct. 1, 2027, financial consequences for states with administrative error rates over 6% are set to be raised. Texas has an error rate of 8.32%, Clarke said, which is set to cost the state another\u00a0$709 million per year \u2013 but she is confident that with time, the state can reduce this rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not saying we\u2019re just going to let it go or anything like that,\u201d Clarke said. \u201cWe\u2019re just saying give us a little more time to get the error rate down because we know we can do better.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
What remains unknown, Clarke said, is how Texas will shift funds around to pay the increased administrative fees, especially as the state legislature is out of regular session until January.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether these rising costs for the state will impact SNAP beneficiaries is a question that will not be addressed until the Texas legislature is back in session, Clarke said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit advocating for federal nutrition programs, is also working to encourage the addition of relief for states into this bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n
FRAC\u2019s director of SNAP Advocacy & Policy, Gina Plata-Nino, said food-insecure Americans and the network of nonprofits working to support them are facing the \u201cmost unprecedented changes in SNAP history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plata-Nino is concerned rising administration costs may cause state authorities to eventually cease participating in SNAP entirely. Regardless, she said the money addressing these new requirements could be better spent on education or public health programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SNAP Mobile<\/p>\n
Christine Ramos, of the food bank\u2019s social services team, spoke to The News from a pop-up truck called SNAP Mobile, which travels to areas experiencing food insecurity to offer information about SNAP and help North Texans sign up for government assistance programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Amid the recent policy changes, she has had to combat what she called an uptick in misinformation and assist potential SNAP applicants in seeking employment as they navigate shifted workforce requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople continue to come in every day,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cAny situation could take them here, a lost job, an accident; it really could be anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both Ramos and Clarke pointed to a particular increase in families seeking assistance, which they say\u00a0makes the proposed changes especially troubling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI see families out there who have to go out of their way to skip their meals to provide for their children, to make sure those children have a meal,\u201d Clarke said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Food assistance nonprofits are advocating to lessen an impending extra $800 million in administrative costs for Texas tied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161,17921,88032,101234,87998,88643],"class_list":["post-362508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-service","tag-tp-dallas-fortworth","tag-tp-congress","tag-tp-dallas","tag-tp-fort-worth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}