North Carolina -- June 15, 2026: North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson has joined a coalition of 23 state attorneys general calling on congressional leadership to safeguard and restore federal food assistance protections in the upcoming Farm Bill.
The joint push directly targets the financial and administrative fallout from last year’s H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Passed as a budget reconciliation package, the OBBBA introduced sweeping changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), eliminating an estimated $187 billion to $200 billion from federal nutrition funding over the next decade.
With the current federal farm legislation up for renewal, state legal officers argue that the final version of the 2026 Farm Bill represents a critical window to reverse restrictions that they say place an undue burden on vulnerable populations and strain state budgets.
“Over a million people in our state depend on SNAP to afford groceries,” Jackson said in a news release. “We need to protect this program and make it easier for seniors, veterans and working families to put food on the table.”
Confronting "Harmful Cuts" and State Cost-Shifting
The multi-state coalition sent a formal joint letter to Senate leadership, explicitly requesting that lawmakers reject the stricter eligibility framework currently mirrored in the House Agriculture Committee's version of the agriculture bill, known officially as the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026.
"We the undersigned attorneys general write today to urge the Senate to restore Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and eligibility protections in the upcoming Farm Bill and to reject efforts to perpetuate or expand the harmful cuts enacted last year in H.R. 1 and perpetuated by the House version of the Farm Bill," the letter to the Senate read.
Jackson noted that states are asking Senate leaders to restore benefits that were previously in place in the Farm Bill prior to the fast-tracked budget reconciliation cuts.
Beyond individual household impacts, the attorneys general are raising alarms over systemic administrative changes. The OBBBA shifted a significant portion of SNAP's operational and administrative costs directly onto state governments. The financial impact has already triggered legislative interventions at the state level; earlier this year, the North Carolina General Assembly filed the Affordable Food Act to appropriate tens of millions in state emergency funds to cover the sudden deficit in federal administrative receipts scheduled to hit state agencies this July.
Protecting Benefits from Federal Volatility
The joint letter also emphasizes a need for baseline funding stability, pointing back to the widespread disruption caused by the November 2025 federal government shutdown. During that budget stalemate, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) attempted to freeze and delay monthly nutrition distributions, a move that prompted a successful multi-state lawsuit led by offices including North Carolina to force the release of emergency contingency funds.
By formally petitioning the Senate, the 23 attorneys general are attempting to leverage bipartisan negotiations to ensure the finalized, reconciled Farm Bill insulates baseline nutrition programs from future federal funding battles and lowers the bureaucratic barriers implemented over the last year.