IV 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 856 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States 
Department of Agriculture should use its contingency funds and inter-
change authority to finance the supplemental nutrition assistance pro-
gram. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 4, 2025 
Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Mrs. HAYES, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
LANDSMAN, Ms. SALINAS, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. SMITH of 
Washington, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 
MOULTON, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Mr. TONKO, Mr. 
MAGAZINER, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. IVEY, Ms. WILSON of Florida, 
Ms. ADAMS, Ms. LEE of Nevada, Ms. ROSS, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. STE-
VENS, Mr. LATIMER, Mr. TRAN, Mr. BISHOP, Ms. CHU, Ms. BROWNLEY, 
Ms. SIMON, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. TITUS, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. WATSON COLE-
MAN, Mr. SORENSEN, Mr. FIELDS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. BELL, Mr. 
GARAMENDI, Ms. FRIEDMAN, Mr. OLSZEWSKI, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. 
MCGARVEY, Mr. HERNA´NDEZ, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. CAR-
TER of Louisiana, Mr. TORRES of New York, and Mrs. SYKES) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the United States Department of Agriculture should use 
its contingency funds and interchange authority to fi-
nance the supplemental nutrition assistance program. 
Whereas, in 1964, Congress authorized the supplemental nu-
trition assistance program (referred to in this preamble 
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•HRES 856 IH 
as ‘‘SNAP’’) to ‘‘alleviate . . . hunger and malnutrition’’ 
and ensure that families would never go hungry; 
Whereas approximately 1 in 8 people in the United States 
rely on SNAP, and in 2024, SNAP helped approximately 
42,000,000 people avoid hunger or malnutrition, includ-
ing about 16,000,000 children, 8,000,000 seniors, 
4,000,000 people with disabilities, and 1,200,000 vet-
erans; 
Whereas, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, Con-
gress appropriated $3,000,000,000 to the SNAP contin-
gency fund to remain available through September 30, 
2026, that would be ‘‘placed in reserve for use only in 
such amounts and at such times as may become nec-
essary to carry out program operations’’; 
Whereas, in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and 
Extensions Act, 2025, Congress appropriated another 
$3,000,000,000 to the SNAP contingency fund for these 
same purposes, to remain available through September 
30, 2027; 
Whereas this contingency fund, which totals more than 
$5,000,000,000 following a recent apportionment by the 
Office of Management and Budget of $750,000,000, was 
created to ensure that SNAP funding would be available 
to respond to emergencies, including a government shut-
down, so that children, seniors, and people of the United 
States who are at risk of going hungry have access to 
food; 
Whereas it is highly damaging for children to go without food 
and the ability of children to learn in school is deeply 
damaged by persistent hunger; 
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•HRES 856 IH 
Whereas, during the 2018–2019 shutdown in the first Trump 
administration, the United States Department of Agri-
culture (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘USDA’’) 
said in guidance released in January 2019 that ‘‘funding 
is available from the contingency that can be used to pro-
vide benefits for February’’, though the shutdown ended 
before the contingency funds needed to be used; 
Whereas, on September 30, the USDA posted guidance on its 
website indicating that SNAP ‘‘has been provided with 
multi-year contingency funds that can be used for State 
Administrative Expenses to ensure that the State can 
also continue operations during a Federal Government 
shutdown’’ and that ‘‘[t]hese multi-year contingency 
funds are also available to fund participant benefits in 
the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal 
year’’; 
Whereas, earlier in 2025, the Government Accountability Of-
fice explained that ‘‘SNAP is considered an appropriated 
entitlement, meaning that the government is legally re-
quired to make payments to those who meet the program 
requirements’’ and ‘‘USDA’s liability [extends to] the 
availability of appropriations for these payments’’; 
Whereas the Secretary of Agriculture has discretion under 
section 702(b) of the Department of Agriculture Organic 
Act of 1944 (7 U.S.C. 2257) to transfer funds within nu-
trition programs via interchange authority; 
Whereas, in October 2025, the Trump administration used 
its interchange authority to fund the Special Supple-
mental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Chil-
dren (WIC); and 
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•HRES 856 IH 
Whereas the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of Northern 
Mariana Islands who receive nutrition assistance from 
the Nutrition Assistance Program block grants are expe-
riencing the same challenges because of the lapse in ap-
propriations: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the Trump administration is legally obli-
gated to fund the supplemental nutrition assistance 
program (referred to in this resolution as ‘‘SNAP’’) 
through the use of the contingency fund; 
(2) the Trump administration has the legal au-
thority and the funds to finance SNAP through the 
month of November; 
(3) exercising this power is extremely important 
for the health and wellness of families experiencing 
hunger, 
including 
about 
16,000,000 
children, 
8,000,000 seniors, 4,000,000 people with disabilities, 
and 1,200,000 veterans; and 
(4) the administration should immediately exer-
cise its legal authority to fund SNAP in November 
2025. 
Æ 
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