Let’s Get to Work Act of 2025
HB1198, titled the Let’s Get to Work Act of 2025, would expand and tighten work requirements tied to federal nutrition and housing assistance. The bill amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to modify Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work rules by shortening the period before certain able-bodied adults without dependents must meet work requirements, while also changing exemption categories. It raises the age threshold for an exemption from over 50 to over 60, adds an exemption for a parent or household member responsible for a dependent child under age 6, and creates a new exemption for a married individual responsible for a dependent person if the spouse is complying with work requirements. It also makes conforming changes to related SNAP timing language.
In addition to SNAP, the bill extends the same work requirements to individuals in public housing and in tenant-based rental assistance programs, including Housing Choice Vouchers, unless they fall within the SNAP exemptions. This would link eligibility conditions across food assistance and federal rental assistance, effectively making work participation a condition for more low-income households receiving housing support. The bill therefore affects both the Food and Nutrition Act and the United States Housing Act of 1937, with implications for USDA-administered nutrition benefits and HUD-assisted housing programs.
The available record shows no committee transcript, no recorded votes, and no formal opposition or support statements in the provided materials. As a result, the general sentiment cannot be measured from debate or roll-call history, but the bill’s title and structure indicate a policy direction favoring stronger work expectations for benefit recipients. The absence of recorded votes suggests the measure was still in the early committee process at the time of the provided status.
The main point of contention likely centers on whether expanding work requirements promotes self-sufficiency or instead creates barriers to essential assistance for low-income families, older adults, caregivers, and people with dependent responsibilities. Supporters would likely emphasize labor-force participation and program integrity, while critics would likely focus on the risk of losing SNAP or housing aid due to administrative hurdles, caregiving burdens, or limited job access. The bill’s new age and caregiving exemptions suggest an attempt to narrow, but not eliminate, those concerns.
The bill would amend 7 U.S.C. 2015(o) in the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to change SNAP work requirement exemptions and timing rules, and it would add conforming language to 7 U.S.C. 2025(h). It would also amend the United States Housing Act of 1937, 42 U.S.C. 1437a and 1437f(o), to apply the same SNAP work requirements to residents of public housing and recipients of tenant-based rental assistance who are not exempt. This would expand work-condition eligibility rules across both nutrition assistance and federal housing assistance programs, affecting low-income households, caregivers, older adults, and housing voucher/public housing recipients.
No committee transcript or vote history was provided, so there is no direct evidence of floor debate or recorded support/opposition. Based on the bill text, the measure reflects a generally pro-work, program-restriction approach that would likely be viewed favorably by proponents of welfare reform and more skeptically by advocates for anti-poverty and housing assistance programs. The bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture, indicating it remained in the committee stage.
Likely contention would focus on the expansion of work requirements to housing assistance and the narrowing of exemptions in SNAP. Supporters are likely to argue that the bill encourages employment and aligns benefits with work participation, while opponents are likely to argue that it could reduce access to food and housing aid for people facing caregiving duties, age-related barriers, unstable employment, or administrative compliance challenges. The most notable policy dispute is whether tying housing assistance to SNAP-style work rules is appropriate and whether the new exemptions are sufficient to protect vulnerable households.