Food assistance is how working families keep groceries on the table when money runs short. Now the federal government is pushing SNAP costs onto states and counties. It is cutting its share of the cost of running the program and making states pay part of the cost of benefits when their payment error rates run high. Those error rates measure paperwork mistakes, both overpayments and underpayments, not fraud. States and counties facing the bill will have to raise local taxes, cut services, or shrink the offices that process applications. For families, that puts at risk fewer caseworkers, longer waits, and eligible households knocked off food assistance by red tape. This was a choice, and it can be undone. There are other ways to pay for government than making hungry families and local budgets absorb the cost. Repeal the SNAP cost shifts to states and counties, and keep food assistance fully funded.
