Oregon will soon be on the hook for millions of dollars more to cover the cost of its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, informally known as food stamps. But it’s unclear how the state will afford it.

People who rely on food stamps might eventually get less help paying for food, though the biggest cuts are a year or more out.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat from Oregon’s 6th Congressional District, held a roundtable discussion with a small group of anti-hunger advocates and government officials. She wanted to hear how changes to SNAP will affect the more than 740,000 people that currently receive food stamps in Oregon.

Ian Dixon-McDonald, the vice president of programs at the Marion Polk Food Share, was there. He said food banks like his are bracing to see even more people than they’re already seeing.

He added there will still be food to give out, but that people might just get less of it.

“It’ll just continue to be more people and less food available under these cuts,” he said. “We can’t purchase our way out of this.”

Congressional Republicans slashed safety net programs like SNAP and Medicaid in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” budget reconciliation they passed last month.

The bill shifts costs usually covered by the federal government onto states. For the first time ever it will require states to pay for a share of the SNAP dollars people get based on the states “error rate” — or the rate at which a state either over or underpaid benefits. That number is not a measure of fraud.

If the error rate is 10% or higher, the state is expected to pay a 15% share of SNAP costs. Oregon’s error rate is among the highest at 14%.

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Oregon will also be responsible for 75% of the cost to administer the program, up from the current 50% — the federal government is responsible for paying the rest.

Those changes are not immediate though. The state will start paying a higher share of SNAP dollars in 2028, and more in administrative costs in 2026.

The Oregon Department of Human Services estimates the state will face $425 million in new yearly costs.

Salinas said she’s had “quiet conversations” with Oregon legislators, but added she hasn’t received any indication the state will be able to close that gap.

“I think that they feel it’s going to be people going hungry. I don’t think they’re going to be able to make that up … There was hardly an appetite to do that for transportation,” Salinas said, referring to the Oregon Democrats’ failed transportation bill from this year’s legislative session.

A spokesperson with Gov. Tina Kotek’s office said they could not immediately comment on how the state is preparing to handle the funding shortfall when it takes effect.

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Whether the state will be able to come up with the money necessary to continue SNAP at current funding levels is unclear. The state could stand to lose nearly $1 billion in revenue in the next two years due to the tax cuts from Congressional Republicans’ budget reconciliation, as reported by the Oregonian/OregonLive.

Other changes to SNAP include new work requirements, which advocates call burdensome, for parents of teenagers and for adults from age 55-65. And the program will soon exclude thousands of refugees and other humanitarian immigrants from participation.

Salinas said she’s emboldened by the pushback she’s seeing from constituents in Republican congressional districts calling out their elected officials for supporting the bill.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/06/oregon-snap-cuts-andrea-salinas/