February 25, 2025 is where Jeff Van Drew's SNAP record starts: his vote was the margin for a budget plan that told House Agriculture, the committee over SNAP, to come up with at least $230 billion. On May 22 his yes again supplied the House bill's one-vote margin, and on July 3 he voted for the final law, whose $187 billion SNAP cut through 2034 is the deepest the program has ever taken, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysts found.
When CBPP modeled those same wider work rules as written in the Senate Agriculture Committee's June 2025 proposal, it found tens of thousands of New Jersey residents in their 50s and early 60s, along with parents of teenagers, at risk of losing food aid, and since October 2026 the state has paid three-quarters of what it costs to run SNAP.
Jeff Van Drew's Votes on SNAP, From the Budget Plan to the Final Law
- Van Drew Delivered the House Bill's One-Vote Margin and Then Voted for the Biggest SNAP Cut on Record, in 2025. H.R. 1 squeaked through the House 215 to 214 on May 22, 2025 with Jeff Van Drew in the majority, so his vote alone could have stopped it. On July 3, 2025, Van Drew voted for the law in its final form, which passed 218 to 214. "The megabill cuts SNAP by $187 billion or about 20 percent by 2034," the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found, a record cut to the program. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the final law's broader work rules, which reach adults up to 64 and parents of children 14 and older and end the exemptions veterans and homeless people had, will "reduce participation in SNAP by roughly 2.4 million people in an average month."
- Van Drew Tipped the February Budget Vote That Told SNAP's Committee to Find $230 Billion, in 2025. Van Drew's yes on February 25, 2025 was one of the 217 that adopted H.Con.Res. 14 against 215; one switch from him would have tied it, and a tie fails. It ordered the Agriculture Committee, which writes SNAP law, to "reduce the deficit by not less than $230,000,000,000". He was also a yes on the procedural rules governing H.R. 1's floor debate in May and July 2025. In the final law, which got Van Drew's yes on July 3, 2025, states take on more of the bill: starting in fiscal year 2027, which began October 1, 2026, Washington covers only 25 percent of SNAP's administrative costs, down from half, and from fiscal 2028 states with higher payment error rates must also pay part of the benefits themselves.
What Jeff Van Drew's SNAP Votes Mean for New Jersey Families
- CBPP estimated in June 2025 that 22,000 older New Jersey adults could lose SNAP under a Senate draft of the work rules Van Drew voted for. The law now applies SNAP's time limit to adults up to 64, and in June 2025 a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities projection, run on the Senate Agriculture Committee's proposal containing that expansion, found 22,000 New Jersey residents ages 55 to 64 who have no children and no disability at risk of being cut from SNAP in an average month. For a 60-year-old with a spotty work history or no job in reach, three months of benefits is now the ceiling unless the hours are documented.
- CBPP's June 2025 estimate counted 26,000 New Jersey parents of teenagers at risk of losing SNAP. Mothers and fathers lose the exemption once their youngest turns 14, and that same June 2025 projection for the Senate committee's proposal counted 26,000 New Jersey parents in this position who could be dropped from SNAP in an average month. The food budget of every household around them, teenagers included, shrinks with them.
- New Jersey now pays 75% of the cost of running SNAP. Since October 1, 2026, New Jersey has carried 75 percent of SNAP's administrative costs, where the federal government used to split them evenly, and from fiscal 2028 the state's benefit share depends on its payment error rate: 5, 10 or 15 percent of benefits for rates of 6 percent and up. Money the state spends on that shift is money it does not have for food banks, staff or other aid.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jeff Van Drew on Food Assistance
What is Jeff Van Drew's record on food assistance under Trump?
Jeff Van Drew decided the February 2025 House budget vote that ordered SNAP's committee to find at least $230 billion and cast the vote that let the House pass H.R. 1 in May 2025; on July 3, 2025, he voted for its final version. The law cuts SNAP by $187 billion through 2034, the largest cut in its history, and widens its work rules; for the Senate Agriculture Committee's version of the same expansions, CBPP had estimated in June 2025 that 22,000 older New Jersey adults and 26,000 New Jersey parents were at risk of losing benefits.
When did states begin enforcing the SNAP work rules Jeff Van Drew voted for?
Many states began enforcing the expanded rules in the law Jeff Van Drew voted for on February 1, 2026, according to American Homefront's reporting for WHRO. Anyone in the newly covered groups who cannot show 80 hours a month of work, volunteering or school gets SNAP for only three months in a three-year period.
When could New Jersey have to pay part of SNAP benefits because of Jeff Van Drew's vote?
Under the law Jeff Van Drew voted for, New Jersey could owe a share of SNAP benefits beginning in fiscal year 2028, depending on its payment error rate: a state with a payment error rate under 6 percent pays nothing, while rates from 6 to under 8 percent cost the state 5 percent of benefits, 8 to under 10 percent cost 10 percent, and 10 percent or more cost 15 percent. That comes on top of the 75 percent share of administrative costs New Jersey has paid since October 1, 2026.
Last updated: 2026-10-27