Some 12,000 Minnesota veterans share a home with SNAP benefits, CBPP data show, and since the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, being a veteran no longer gives them special protection from the program's three-month clock, which now reaches any of them ages 18 to 64 who lack a disability or other exemption. Brad Finstad helped enact the change with his vote on July 3, 2025, after his May vote had been the one the House bill needed to pass 215 to 214.
Health coverage is at stake too. Minnesota expanded Medicaid, and starting by January 1, 2027, the law requires expansion adults to show 80 hours of work or other activity monthly; a veteran escapes the rule on that ground only with a disability rated total, so a partially rated veteran lacking any other exemption will have to log hours.
Brad Finstad's Votes on Food Aid and Health Coverage for Veterans
- Veterans Using SNAP in Minnesota Are Put on the Three-Month Clock by the Law Finstad Voted For in 2025. On July 3, 2025, Finstad's yes went to the final version of H.R. 1, and its Section 10102 erased the veterans' carve-out from SNAP's time limit for adults without dependents: a veteran ages 18 to 64 with no disability or other exemption who cannot show 80 hours of work or job training each month gets just three months of food aid. In May he had voted for the House version, which passed 215 to 214, a margin that required Finstad's yes. Dropping the protections for veterans, homeless people and former foster youth shrinks SNAP participation among those groups by a net 300,000 people, the Congressional Budget Office projects.
- Minnesota Veterans With Partial Disability Ratings Will Have to File Work Hours for Medicaid, Absent Another Exemption, After Finstad's Final-Passage Yes in July 2025. Finstad's yes helped the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act pass 218 to 214 on July 3, 2025. Starting by January 1, 2027, expansion adults will have to show a monthly 80 hours of work or other qualifying activity, and for veterans the law's carve-out covers only someone who "is a veteran with a disability rated as total under section 1155 of title 38". A partially rated Minnesota veteran on expansion Medicaid, absent some other exemption, faces the paperwork every month or the loss of coverage, with the requirement in force "no later than January 1, 2027."
What Brad Finstad's Votes Mean for Minnesota Veterans
- About 12,000 Minnesota veterans live in SNAP households, and veteran status no longer exempts them from the time limit. Over 2021 to 2023, 12,000 Minnesota veterans on average, or 4% of all 265,000 in the state, were in SNAP households, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities tallied, and the ones aged 18 through 64 with no disability or other exemption now keep the grocery benefit only by meeting the work rule.
- Expansion Medicaid covers 22,800 adults in Finstad's district, and veterans among them face work reporting. KFF's 2025 district figures put 22,800 people on expansion Medicaid in Minnesota's 1st District, and a veteran in that group holding less than a total disability rating, with no other exemption, will have to file hours to stay covered starting January 1, 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions About Brad Finstad on Veterans
What is Brad Finstad's record on veterans under Trump?
Brad Finstad's July 3, 2025 vote went to the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act, under which veterans lost their exemption from SNAP's three-month limit, and the law's veteran exemption from Medicaid's work reporting covers only a disability rated total. His yes had also been required for the House version's 215-to-214 passage that May. In Minnesota, about 12,000 veterans live in SNAP households.
Which veterans in southern Minnesota's 1st District will have to prove work hours because of Brad Finstad's vote?
Two groups of veterans in Minnesota's 1st District, under the law Brad Finstad voted for: those 18 to 64 using SNAP who have no disability or other exemption, who now face the time limit, and those covered through Medicaid's expansion whose disability rating is less than total, who will have to report hours starting January 1, 2027 unless another exemption applies.
How many veterans nationwide depend on the SNAP benefits Brad Finstad voted to put under work rules?
Nationwide, about 1.2 million veterans with low incomes rely on SNAP, according to Stateline's report on a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities study, and under the law Brad Finstad voted for, those 18 to 64 without a disability or other exemption face the program's work rules.
Last updated: 2026-10-27