Only nine states had payment error rates in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program below 6% in fiscal 2025, USDA announced today, which would allow them to avoid paying a portion of SNAP benefits starting in October 2027. Another six, as well as the District of Columbia, were above a higher threshold that gives them a two-year delay.

In addition to forcing states to pay more for SNAP administrative expenses, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed about a year ago included language requiring states to pay part of SNAP benefits if their error rate is at or above 6%.

The vast majority of states exceeded that threshold, many by multiple percentage points. The states that came in under 6% are Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The U.S. Virgin Islands also came in below 6%.

Democratic lawmakers and anti-hunger groups have been pushing for a two-year extension of the cost-shifting provisions in the OBBBA. Neither the House-passed farm bill nor the recently released draft text from Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., includes any extension, and Boozman has so far opposed any extension.

If the OBBBA requirements are not delayed, a handful of states would qualify for what’s being called the “Alaska carve-out,” because it was added to gain the support of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, for the bill.

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If a state‘s error rate is above 13.34%, it qualifies for a two-year delay in having to contribute to benefits, which historically have been paid by the federal government.

Alaska’s error rate for FY 25 was 23.15%. Other states above the threshold are Oregon (14.14%), Illinois (14.67%), Georgia (15.21%), Delaware (16%), and New Mexico (16.81%). The District of Columbia’s error rate was 18.66%.

The national payment error rate was 10.62%.

Democrats and advocacy groups have argued that all states should benefit from a two-year extension, not just those with the highest error rates.

“These payment error rates are further proof that state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a news release. “USDA has taken historic action to help interested states curb SNAP waste, and I hope other states, regardless of political leadership, prioritize needy families and the American taxpayer over politics.”

The OBBBA “added new guardrails for states’ payment error rates (PERs), implementing real financial consequences for states that mismanage taxpayer dollars,” the release said. “States with error rates at or above the 6% threshold will be responsible for covering 5%, 10%, or 15% of their states’ benefits. The higher their PER, the higher the percentage — and in most cases, as soon as Oct. 1, 2027. The FY 2025 PER is the first year that could be used to calculate those percentages.”

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