Two aspects of a sweeping bill to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda that alarmed veterans and military family advocates have been watered down by Senate Republicans, but another change to the bill could make it harder for veterans to get food assistance.
The education policy portion of the bill released by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee this week does not include a provision that was in the House version of the bill that veterans groups had warned could allow for-profit schools to take advantage of veterans’ GI Bill benefits.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have pared down a plan to cut food benefits that many veterans and military families rely on. But anti-hunger advocates maintain that, despite being less drastic than the House plan, the Senate’s version could still devastate the food benefits program. Further, the Senate bill would not exempt veterans from work requirements for the benefits, potentially reversing a change made just a couple years ago.
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“It’s a little better, but it’s still really bad,” Liza Lieberman, vice president of public affairs at MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, said about the Senate’s food benefits proposal, adding that cuts are still “sure to” hurt military families and veterans.
At issue is what’s been dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a smorgasbord of GOP priorities on everything from taxes to health care to border policy.
The House passed the bill last month, but it is now working its way through the Senate, where Republicans have a loose goal of passing it before July 4.
The House version of the bill included a provision that would repeal what’s known as the 90/10 rule, which limits how much of a for-profit school’s revenue can come from federal student aid.
Previously, a loophole in the rule incentivized shady for-profit schools to take advantage of veterans for their GI Bill benefits. Congress passed a law to close the loophole in 2021, and the law was fully implemented in 2023 to bipartisan cheers.
Still, some Republicans maintained the 90/10 rule as a whole unfairly singles out for-profit schools. Repealing it in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, House Republicans argued, would expand educational opportunities by treating all types of schools the same.
But veterans groups sounded the alarm about the potential repeal and the possibility of scam schools once again being free to target veterans, including in a letter to Congress late last month signed by 32 organizations.
“We are very grateful to [Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill] Cassidy for listening to veterans and holding the line on 90/10 and some other key provisions,” Carrie Wofford, president of Veterans Education Success, said in an emailed statement to Military.com after the Senate bill text was released. “We look forward to continuing to work with the committee on the legislation.”
The White House, which in May told Military.com that “it is a paternalistic mindset to posit that the government should decide how veterans use the benefits they earned,” did not address the Senate’s decision to keep the 90/10 rule alive when asked Friday about that and other changes to the bill.
Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee is proposing somewhat less drastic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, than the House. The SNAP program is often referred to as food stamps.
“This bill takes a common-sense approach to reforming SNAP — cutting waste, increasing state accountability, and helping recipients transition to self-sufficiency through work and training. It’s about being good stewards of taxpayer dollars while giving folks the tools to succeed,” committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., said in a statement this week.
The House’s proposal included a steep cut to federal funding for SNAP and a requirement that states make up the difference. A Congressional Budget Office report released after the House passed the bill estimated that “states collectively would reduce or eliminate benefits for about 1.3 million people in an average month” because of the House cost-sharing plan.
SNAP is a lifeline for many military families, which face food insecurity at higher rates than the civilian population. About 1.2 million veterans are also estimated to be on SNAP.
The House plan would “lead to longer lines at food pantries and charitable services — including those operating on or near military bases and veteran support centers — across the country who cannot meet growing needs,” 16 military, veterans and anti-hunger groups wrote in a letter to senators this week prior to the Senate bill text being released.
The Senate bill still includes a state cost-sharing plan, but would require states to pay less than the House bill would. Whereas the House bill would require every state to pay at least 5% of benefits costs, the Senate bill would not require states to pay anything unless their so-called error rate is more than 6%.
The error rate is how often states make overpayments or underpayments. In 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, just seven states had error rates under 6%.
Further, while the House bill would make states with higher error rates pay as much as 25% of benefits costs, the Senate bill would cap state contributions at 15% of costs.
“We do expect that big concern of state burdens and state cost share being detrimental to all SNAP recipients in some way, or recipients in every state and every congressional district,” said Lieberman of MAZON.
The Senate bill also does not include veterans in its list of exemptions for work requirements to receive SNAP benefits. All veterans, regardless of their discharge or disability status, were exempted from work requirements for SNAP in a law passed in 2023.
The House bill would extend that exemption for veterans, and Republicans and the Trump administration repeatedly pointed to the exemption as they swatted away Democratic criticism of the SNAP cuts.
“Veterans are exempt from the SNAP work requirements. They’re not included in these issues,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said at a House hearing last month when asked about the cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill.
A spokesperson for the Senate Agriculture Committee told Military.com on Friday that it dropped the veterans exemption from its version of the bill because “we’re aiming to encourage greater independence through work and training opportunities.”
The White House previously insisted to Military.com that the House plan is aimed at “strengthening SNAP for Americans who need it — especially military families.” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson reiterated Friday that the bill “strengthens SNAP for all American families,” but did not directly address the cost-sharing plan or veterans being excluded from work requirement exemptions.
The whole bill, Lieberman said, “is being done in a way that is going to have real, real harm on real people, millions of real people, including military families and veterans.”
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