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To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to improve the cost of living adjustment exclusion from income under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, which governs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to modify how cost-of-living adjustments are treated in income calculations. The bill changes the effective date for cost-of-living adjustment exclusions from July 1 to January 1 each year. The bill also adds supplementary Social Security payments to the types of income that are excluded when determining SNAP eligibility and benefit amounts. The amendments take effect on October 1, 2027.
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)
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
7 cosponsors
- Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT)
- Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
- Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] (D-OR)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Peter Welch’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $8,600
- THE OLD MOUNTAIN COMPANY, INC. $3,300
- WEST FRONT STRATEGIES $2,500
- UCAR $2,300
- MINILEC SERVICE $2,000
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Peter Welch → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jan 8, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. · senate
- Jan 8, 2026 Introduced in Senate
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.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 8 (legislative day, January 7), 2026
Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Markey, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Schiff) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to improve the cost of living adjustment exclusion from income 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 “COLAs Don’t Count Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FROM INCOME.
Section 5(d) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014(d)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (12), by striking “July 1” and inserting “January 1”;
(2) in paragraph (18), by striking “and” at the end;
(3) by redesignating paragraph (19) as paragraph (20); and
(4) by inserting after paragraph (18) the following:
“(19) supplementary payments of the type described in section 1616(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1382e(a)); and”.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on October 1, 2027. <all>
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