On Jan. 12, Rep. Holly Stover and I held a SNAP Town Hall at the Harbor Theater. We were pleased to be joined by the Speaker of the House, Ryan Fecteau, and organizations such as Full Plates Full Potential, the Maine Bureau of Veteran Services, and the Community Resource Council. I want to thank the Harbor Theater for hosting us, Boothbay Harbor Police Department’s Chief of Police, Doug Snyder, for ensuring our safety, and Boothbay Region TV and Media Center for broadcasting and filming the event.

As you are aware, H.R. 1. or the “Big Beautiful Bill” was passed by Congress and signed into law this past July. It was a very large piece of legislation that will have ongoing effects on the government and programs throughout the country. One program that had significant changes is SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. These changes — some already implemented, with others coming in the next few years — will affect many of our friends and neighbors. This, paired with the level of panic and concern regarding food security throughout the district during last fall’s government shutdown, convinced us it was important to help as many people as possible understand the changes to SNAP.

To begin, we explained the statistics of food insecurity in Lincoln County (LC): 19.5% of LC children experience food insecurity and 12.5% of all LC residents experience food insecurity, while 31% of LC households earn above the federal poverty line but struggle to pay for child care, food, housing, and health care. Ten percent of the LC population is enrolled in SNAP, which may not sound like a lot, but one out of every ten people in Lincoln County means you likely know people who are using SNAP to help feed themselves or their children.

Beginning Oct. 1, 2025, all federal funding for SNAP-Ed, a nutrition education program, was eliminated. On Oct. 1, 2026, H.R. 1 will reduce the federal administrative match to 25% of SNAP and the state of Maine will have to pay for the other 75%, which will not fit into the state’s budget. Beginning Oct. 1, 2027, how much the state pays for SNAP benefits will be tied to Payment Error Rates for the program. The payment error rate has nothing to do with fraud; it is simply any error in over or underpayment, which could be caused by something like a recipient receiving a raise, or losing a second job, and forgetting to report it to DHHS. This change will require Maine to add, and pay for, a much higher level of bureaucracy to reach the target error rate. 

One of the biggest changes from H.R. 1 is the eligibility requirements for individuals to receive SNAP. For able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD is the official term), the work requirements are going to be for everyone aged 18-64. Additionally, it will change the exemption for having a dependent to be only for those under 14. Also, it removes temporary exceptions for Native Americans who are eligible for the Indian Health Service. The work requirement will also apply to low-income veterans. The state of Maine has 104,000 veterans which makes Maine the fifth ranked in the nation for veterans per capita and 5,600 of Maine’s veterans rely on SNAP benefits every month.

One month of SNAP benefits in Maine costs $29 million, a number no charity would be able to fund should the federal government shut down again and put benefits at risk. The H.R. 1 cuts are predicted to affect 100,000 Maine families. Even if you do not receive SNAP benefits, this will affect our entire community, state, and economy.

At the end of the day, we are going to have to make some very hard choices while continuing to take care of each other.

If you have questions, comments, or need help navigating a state agency, please email me at Cameron.Reny@Legislature.Maine.gov.