***For Immediate Release***
June 24, 2026
Contact: Sierra Salgado Pirigyi
Communications Director, Nebraska Appleseed
Office: (402) 438-8853 ext 116
sierrasp@neappleseed.org
RELEASE: Feds say Nebraska will not need to pay $15M to continue SNAP next year
USDA announces SNAP payment error rates
LINCOLN, NE — Today, the USDA announced state-level Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment error rates (PER) for fiscal year 2025. This announcement marks the first PER that has the potential to result in a SNAP benefits cost-share for states, due to provisions in H.R. 1 (the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act) passed in July 2025.
USDA announced that Nebraska’s FY25 PER was 5.90%. We are one of 10 states that have a PER below 6% – ensuring we have no benefits cost share for next year and avoiding at least $15M in cost-sharing penalties.
Eric Savaiano, Nebraska Appleseed’s Program Manager for Food and Nutrition Access issued the following statement in response:
“We’re glad that Nebraska’s payment error rate is below the new federal limit for benefits cost-sharing this year. We’re all too aware that next year might be different. In reality, we can’t afford additional costs to the program with our growing state budget deficit.
Some states are being forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars because of this new cost-sharing requirement, which may lead to some states dropping out of SNAP altogether. That is unconscionable – not only for the people who rely on SNAP, but also for our food economy, local grocers, truckers, farmers and ranchers.
We know that Nebraska has added burdensome new requirements on SNAP applicants to keep our error rate low. We believe they are so burdensome, in fact, that there were two thousand fewer people participating in Nebraska SNAP by the end of May, the month these requirements were enacted. As prices remain high for food, gas, and cost of living, we need to prioritize maintaining access to benefits while balancing new federal requirements. That, or pull back on these extreme and harmful policies enacted through H.R. 1.”
Before H.R. 1 was passed, Nebraska supported ~150,000 with SNAP food assistance. Because of policies in H.R. 1 and new requirements Nebraska has added to address the law, including maintaining a low error rate, our state currently serves ~130,000 (a nearly 13% drop).
Background information:
For decades, SNAP’s Quality Control (QC) system has measured SNAP payment errors and imposed penalties on states with persistently high error rates. H.R. 1, the Republican reconciliation law enacted last summer, created a new requirement that states must pay a share of SNAP benefits based on their payment error rates from 2-3 years prior — beginning in federal fiscal year 2028, but based on states’ 2025 or 2026 error rates. As a result, many states are seeking to rapidly lower their error rates, which has contributed to significant new barriers to access and steep caseload declines in many states.
Under H.R. 1, most states will be required to pay 5-15% of SNAP benefit costs when federal fiscal year 2028 begins on October 1, 2027. This is the first time in the program’s history that states will be required to shoulder these costs, which previously have been 100% federally-funded. The amount each state will be required to pay in this first year of implementation will be based on its error rate for fiscal year 2025 or 2026, at the option of the state.
Some states will continue to have the federal government fund 100% of benefit costs in fiscal year 2028 if their fiscal year 2025 error rate is:
- Below 6%, or
- 13.33% or higher, under a temporary carveout in the law benefiting states with the highest error rates.
For all other states, if the state’s fiscal year 2025 error rate is:
- At or above 6% but below 8%: State pays 5% of benefit costs in FY2028
- At or above 8% but below 10%: State pays 10% of benefit costs in FY2028
- At or above 10% but below 13.33%: State pays 15% of benefit costs in FY2028
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