MIDDLE TENNESSEE (WGNS News) - Tennessee and 35 other states, will soon face significant new costs associated with operating the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to USDA data. The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," passed last year, shifts more administrative costs to states, along with additional expenses based on each state's SNAP payment error rate.

Anna Grace Dastugue with the Tennessee Justice Center says her group is urging the U.S. Senate to give states a two-year delay in shifting those costs by adding a provision to the pending Farm Bill. She says the extension would also help protect families' access to SNAP...

She warns that changes stemming from H.R. 1 and the looming SNAP costs could eventually lead to more families going hungry. Dastugue points out that Tennessee's SNAP payment error rate dropped between 2024 and 2025, which she says demonstrates that the state can successfully lower the rate if given enough time.

Dastugue says the nonprofit is encouraging Tennesseans to call U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty to explain what SNAP means to their families and communities and ask the senators to support a delay in the cost shift. Dastugue notes that the Farm Bill presents an opportunity to address problems she says were created by the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." She adds that the proposed delay is a bipartisan idea backed by governors, counties and state legislators, not just food-assistance advocates...

She says more than 6,600 retailers across Tennessee rely on SNAP benefits as a source of revenue and could see a decrease in sales if SNAP benefits were significantly reduced. An analysis from the Center for American Progress indicates that nationwide, more than 27,000 retailers could be impacted by proposed cuts to food assistance.

The Tennessee Justice Center is urging the U.S. Senate to add a provision to the Farm Bill that would delay the cost shift by two years. Without the delay, reports indicate Tennessee could have to appropriate at least $170 million in an upcoming budget cycle to continue providing food assistance to qualifying Tennesseans.