Derek Schmidt's deciding vote for the House bill on May 22, 2025 and his vote for the final law on July 3 enacted the largest SNAP cut in the program's history, and in the year after the law was signed 24,000 Kansans lost SNAP benefits, Kansas Appleseed reported.
In February 2025, Schmidt's vote decided the budget resolution that told the House Agriculture Committee to find at least $230 billion in deficit reduction. The law that followed moves three-quarters of SNAP's administrative cost onto states, and Megan Leopold of Kansas Action for Children says the state's share rose to 75% this fiscal year, at a cost of $16.4 million more.
Derek Schmidt's Votes on SNAP Cuts and Work Rules
- SNAP Is Cut by $187 Billion, the Most in Its History, Under the Final Law That Won Schmidt's Vote on July 3, 2025. Derek Schmidt's yes in May 2025 came on a House roll call the bill won 215 to 214, so it would have failed without him. When the Senate-amended law came back on July 3, 2025, he voted for it again, and it passed 218 to 214. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "The megabill cuts SNAP by $187 billion or about 20 percent by 2034," making it the largest cut to SNAP in history. Its stricter work rules now extend to people as old as 64, to parents of teenagers 14 or older, and the law ends the exemption that had shielded veterans, homeless adults and former foster youth; the Congressional Budget Office expects them to "reduce participation in SNAP by roughly 2.4 million people in an average month."
- Kansas Pays Three-Quarters of the Cost of Running SNAP Under the Final Law That Followed Schmidt's Deciding February 2025 Budget Vote. The February 25, 2025 budget blueprint, H.Con.Res. 14, carried 217 to 215 with Derek Schmidt's yes, so his no would have tied the House and sunk it. Under it, SNAP's authorizing panel, the Agriculture Committee, had to "reduce the deficit by not less than $230,000,000,000". He later voted for the rules that put H.R. 1 up for votes in May and July 2025. Schmidt's July 3, 2025 yes on the final law then helped cut SNAP; among the changes is a rule that from fiscal 2027 the federal government pays just 25 percent of SNAP's administrative bill. In Kansas, Megan Leopold of Kansas Action for Children, where she is a senior policy adviser, said running SNAP will cost the state $16.4 million more starting this fiscal year, and that at the state's current payment error rate Kansas will owe the federal government another $40 million.
What Derek Schmidt's SNAP Votes Mean for Kansas Families
- 24,000 Kansans, including 11,000 children, have lost SNAP since the law was signed. Kansas Appleseed counts 24,000 Kansans statewide who have lost SNAP benefits since the law took effect, among them 11,000 children, and it blames the expanded work rules and new administrative hurdles. A child who drops off SNAP can also lose the direct certification that enrolls them in free school meals automatically, so families lose grocery money and school lunches at once.
- Kansas food banks report their highest demand in two decades. At a Kansas meeting on the law's first year, Harvesters, the food bank network, said demand for food is higher than at any point in 20 years and that roughly one Kansan in seven is food insecure.
- Kansas could pay $40 million more for SNAP benefits at its current error rate. Under the law, states with payment error rates above 6% must pay part of SNAP benefits, and at its current rate Kansas will owe $40 million more to the federal government, Megan Leopold of Kansas Action for Children said. Nationally, states face a combined bill of about $9 billion in fiscal 2028, a CBPP estimate built on 2025 error rates, the first time states have been billed for the benefits themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions About Derek Schmidt on Food Assistance
What is Derek Schmidt's record on food assistance under Trump?
Derek Schmidt's votes decided both the February 2025 budget blueprint, which told SNAP's committee to find $230 billion in deficit reduction, and the House passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; in July he voted for the final law too. The law cuts SNAP by $187 billion through 2034, widens its work rules and moves more of the program's cost onto Kansas. Since it was signed, 24,000 Kansans have lost SNAP, according to Kansas Appleseed.
Will older Kansans and parents of teenagers lose food stamps under the law Derek Schmidt voted for?
Derek Schmidt voted for the final law, and its SNAP work rules now cover people nearing retirement age and parents whose kids have reached 14. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, analyzing a Senate Agriculture Committee proposal that made both of those changes, estimated in June 2025 that in an average month 5,000 childless, nondisabled Kansans in the 55-to-64 age group risked losing SNAP, as did 4,000 Kansas parents of children 14 and older.
Why are Kansas families losing SNAP after Derek Schmidt's vote?
Derek Schmidt voted for the law that Kansas Appleseed's Haley Kottler says "made it harder for families to qualify for SNAP by expanding work requirements, narrowing exemptions and increasing administrative barriers." The group counts about 11,000 Kansas children among those who have lost food assistance.
Last updated: 2026-10-27