At least 18,000 Minnesotans had lost SNAP benefits in the year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed, State Auditor Julie Blaha told the Minnesota Reformer in July 2026. The House bill could not have passed on May 22, 2025 without Brad Finstad's yes, and on July 3 he was a yes on the final law; the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ranks its $187 billion reduction through 2034 as the largest SNAP cut ever.
Older adults with no children at home and parents of teenagers now face SNAP's time limit, and Minnesota itself has been handed a bill. Finstad's February 2025 vote, which decided the budget resolution, set a savings target of $230 billion or more for the Agriculture Committee, which oversees SNAP.
Brad Finstad's Votes to Cut SNAP and Shift Its Costs
- Minnesota Households on SNAP Lose Food Aid Under the $187 Billion Cut in the Law Finstad Voted For in July 2025. The May 22, 2025 House tally on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was 215 to 214, so Brad Finstad's yes was one it could not spare; the final law, approved 218 to 214 on July 3, 2025, got his second yes. "The megabill cuts SNAP by $187 billion or about 20 percent by 2034," in the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' words, making it the deepest cut in the program's history. The law's work rules now also cover adults right up to 64 with no children at home and parents whose children are all 14 or older, and the Congressional Budget Office expects those changes, together with new limits on waivers, to "reduce participation in SNAP by roughly 2.4 million people in an average month."
- Minnesota and the Families It Feeds Absorb a SNAP Cost Shift Set in Motion by a February 2025 Budget Plan That Passed on Finstad's Vote. Finstad's yes on H.Con.Res. 14 on February 25, 2025 came on a 217-to-215 vote, so had he alone voted no, the resolution would have tied and failed. It told the Agriculture Committee, which writes SNAP law, to "reduce the deficit by not less than $230,000,000,000". Both rules that governed floor debate on H.R. 1, in May 2025 and in July 2025, also had his vote. The law Finstad voted for on July 3, 2025 then set a federal share of just 25 percent for the cost of running SNAP starting in fiscal year 2027, leaving states the other three-quarters, plus a share of benefit costs from fiscal 2028 for states with high error rates. The Congressional Budget Office expects states, in response, to reduce or end SNAP benefits for about 300,000 people nationally.
Which Minnesotans Lose Food Aid, and What Minnesota Pays, Because of Brad Finstad's Votes
- At least 18,000 Minnesotans have already lost SNAP, and county workers are falling behind. Minnesota's state auditor counted at least 18,000 Minnesotans who had lost SNAP in the law's first year, the Minnesota Reformer reported, and she said the new reporting rules leave county workers "struggling to keep up," which means slower answers for families waiting on food aid.
- Scoring the Senate Agriculture Committee's plan in June 2025, CBPP found 11,000 older Minnesotans and 9,000 parents of teenagers risked losing food aid each month. Some 11,000 Minnesotans ages 55 to 64 who have no children or disability, along with 9,000 parents of kids 14 and up, were at risk of losing SNAP in a typical month by CBPP's June 2025 count, made for a Senate Agriculture Committee draft carrying these same expansions; the law extends the time limit to both groups, and each must now document 80 hours of work or training monthly to keep buying groceries with it.
- At its 2025 error rate, Minnesota could owe about $130 million in SNAP benefit costs in fiscal 2028. Minnesota's SNAP payment error rate jumped past 12% in 2025, up from close to 9% a year earlier, the Minnesota Reformer reported. At 12.58 percent, the state would land in the law's 15 percent tier, which the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities puts at about $130 million in benefit costs in fiscal 2028, money Minnesota could have to find while already paying three-quarters of SNAP's administrative bill.
Frequently Asked Questions About Brad Finstad on Food Assistance
What is Brad Finstad's record on food assistance under Trump?
Brad Finstad's yes was needed for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to clear the House 215 to 214, and he then voted for the final law, which makes what the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities calls the biggest SNAP cut on record, $187 billion through 2034. With his deciding February 2025 vote, the House adopted a budget plan giving the SNAP committee a savings target of $230 billion. In Minnesota, the state auditor said, at least 18,000 people were cut from SNAP within a year.
Who in southern Minnesota's 1st District could lose SNAP because of Brad Finstad's vote?
Brad Finstad voted for SNAP time limits that now reach residents of Minnesota's 1st District, as everywhere in the state, who are 55 to 64 years old or who are raising only teenagers, and the law ended the exemptions that had protected veterans and people who have no home. Without another exemption, these adults keep benefits for just three months unless they put in 80 hours a month of work or training.
Did Brad Finstad vote to end the SNAP exemption for veterans in Minnesota?
Yes. Section 10102 of the law Brad Finstad voted for took away the exemption veterans had from SNAP's three-month limit, so veterans ages 18 to 64 with no disability or other exemption now face it, and about 12,000 Minnesota veterans live in households receiving SNAP, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities counts.
Last updated: 2026-10-27