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To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to allow individuals with drug offenses to receive benefits under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes.
Summary
This Act amends federal law to allow individuals with drug-related convictions to receive benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, removing a prior federal ban on such assistance. The Act also invalidates any state laws, policies, or regulations that restrict eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) based on drug-related convictions. Additionally, the Act modifies the definition of household for SNAP purposes to include individuals incarcerated and scheduled to be released from institutions within 30 days. The combined effect is to restore federal and state-level food and cash assistance eligibility to individuals with certain drug-related convictions and to facilitate access to assistance for those re-entering society.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9] (D-TN)
8 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Adams, Alma S. [D-NC-12] (D-NC)
- Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2] (R-NE)
- Rep. Davis, Donald G. [D-NC-1] (D-NC)
- Rep. McGovern, James P. [D-MA-2] (D-MA)
- Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1] (R-WV)
- Rep. Moore, Gwen [D-WI-4] (D-WI)
- Rep. Rutherford, John H. [R-FL-5] (R-FL)
Actions (3)
- Dec 5, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture. · house
- Sep 9, 2025 Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
- Sep 9, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 9, 2025
Mr. Cohen (for himself and Mr. Rutherford) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to allow individuals with drug offenses to receive benefits under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Re-Entry Support Through Opportunities for Resources and Essentials Act of 2025” or the “RESTORE Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE AND BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN DRUG-RELATED CONVICTIONS.
(a) In General.—Section 115 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (21 U.S.C. 862a) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph
(1), by striking “for—” and all that follows through the period at the end of paragraph (2) and inserting “for assistance under any State program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).”;
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) by striking paragraph (2);
(B) by striking the subsection designation and heading and all that follows through “The amount of” in paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
“(b) Program of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.—The amount of”; and
(C) by inserting “(42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.)” after “Social Security Act”; and
(3) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the following:
“(e) Definition of State.—In this section, the term ‘State’ has the meaning given the term in section 419 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 619), when referring to assistance provided under a State program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).”.
(b) Effect on State Policies.—Any State law, policy, or regulation that imposes conditions on eligibility for the supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) based on an individual having a conviction for an offense related to a controlled substance shall have no force or effect.
(c) Modification of Definition of Household Under SNAP.—Section 3(m)(5) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(m)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(F) Incarcerated individuals who are scheduled to be released from an institution within 30 days.”. <all>
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