To read an earlier blog on the House-passed version of H.R.1, “Virginia’s Future at Risk,” click here. 
To review Voices’ detailed memo on H.R.1, “Provision-by-Provision Analysis of H.R. 1 Medicaid and SNAP Provisions and the Impacts on Virginia,” click here. 

On July 16, 2025, Voices’ Policy and Programs Team sat down for a “fireside chat” to discuss the impacts H.R.1 will have on young people and their families and what opportunities advocates can take to fight back at the state level. 

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When we ask parents, educators, and pediatricians what they want most for the children they care for, they always tell us the same thing: a world that guarantees children the opportunity to thrive. At Voices, we envision a Virginia in which our systems center the needs of young people—a place where young people can reach their brightest potential without being limited by their race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or geography. 

In recent years during and post-COVID pandemic, we have seen the ways in which systems can be changed to center young people and their specific needs. Many of us have a shared understanding that child poverty is a policy choice, and advocates and decisionmakers have an obligation to make public policy with young people and their families at the center.  

Yet, Congressional leaders made a different choice during the recent federal budget reconciliation process.  

Instead of strengthening the programs that uplift young people and their families, Congress passed a bill (H.R.1) that threatens the progress we have made and strips away access to health care, food assistance, and a multitude of other critical programs for young people and families. This bill is a direct attack on the healthy, thriving futures we want for each young person in every corner of our commonwealth.  

H.R.1 was the top legislative priority of the president, and the budget reconciliation bill
passed through Congress at an unexpected speed—often with hearings through the night
and in the early hours of the morning and without public input. The bill passed the House
on a final vote of 218-214 and was signed into law on July 4. Below is a timeline of the budget reconciliation process:  

• April 2025: The House and Senate passed their respective budget resolutions for the reconciliation process and instructed House and Senate committees to make significant cuts to critical programs, including Medicaid and SNAP.  
• May 2025: House Committees completed their “mark-ups” which detailed how they intended to achieve the instructions to cut funding from critical programs. On May 22, the House passed their reconciliation package on a vote of 215-214. 
• June 2025: Senate Committees made amendments to the House’s reconciliation text, which retained some of the provisions from the House-passed bill but also removed and made significant changes to other key provisions. Senate bill text underwent the “Byrd Bath,” in which the Senate parliamentarian determined which provisions were “extraneous” and therefore not allowed to be included. 
• July 2025: On July 1, the Senate passed its version of H.R.1 by a narrow 51-50 vote – on a tiebreaker cast by the vice president. On July 3, the House agreed to the Senate’s bill, passing the bill on a vote of 218-214, despite many Representatives previously speaking out against the harmful provisions, specifically related to the Medicaid provisions’ impacts on rural communities. H.R.1 was signed into law by the president on July 4.  

While the bill has been finalized, there are many provisions that require states to wait on additional guidance regarding implementation before moving forward with policy changes. In the meantime, families should continue to apply for Medicaid and SNAP benefits and access the critical support that they provide. 

A Twofold Setback: Children are at Risk of Losing Access to Food and Health Care at the Same Time 

To realize $990 billion in Medicaid cuts and $187 billion in SNAP cuts over the next ten years, Congress made budgetary decisions that they frame as addressing “waste, fraud, and abuse,” but the reality is that the provisions create more red tape and bureaucracy that will make it incredibly difficult for families to navigate applying for and maintaining their benefits. 

This bill will be a double-edged sword for families whose children receive life-changing services through Medicaid and SNAP – they will lose critical supports for health and food at the same time. In 2023, 719,000 Virginia children benefited from Medicaid, SNAP, or both – representing 36% of children in the commonwealth. These cuts disproportionately endanger Black and Latino families, with 59% of Black children and 43% of Latino children in Virginia benefiting from one or both programs.  

How H.R.1 Targets Young People and Families 

Work Reporting Requirements

Work requirements are an obstacle to parents getting the affordable health coverage they need – and when parents are sick, their children cannot thrive. H.R.1 does not couple the new work reporting requirements with funding for workforce training and support, nor does it account for other barriers that parents face when searching for work, such as difficulty accessing affordable child care and after-school programs. Rather than fostering economic security, work reporting requirements lead to confusion and difficulties navigating reporting systems – ultimately preventing parents and caregivers from accessing benefits and leaving their children as collateral damage.  

The reality is that the majority of U.S. households with children have at least one family member who works. Additionally, many parents and caregivers are providing unpaid care – which is not recognized as “work” under new requirements. Evidence shows that work reporting requirements do not lead to more families gaining meaningful employment, instead it leads to families being met with administrative barriers to prove their employment status and often losing coverage due to difficulty navigating those complex processes.  

Despite this evidence, H.R.1 inflicts new, complex work reporting requirements for Medicaid and SNAP for parents and caregivers of children aged 14 and older, creating confusing exemptions between programs. 

What defines a work reporting requirement?

• For Medicaid, Medicaid Expansion enrollees have to verify every 6 months at their eligibility redetermination that they are spending 80 hours each month participating in work, community service, or education.  
• For SNAP, adults 18-64 who do not meet an exemption must verify that they are working 20 hours per week, otherwise they can only receive SNAP benefits for three months in a three-year period. 

The effective dates differ between Medicaid and SNAP.

• SNAP work reporting requirements are effective immediately, although states are awaiting guidance from USDA on implementation.  
• Medicaid work reporting requirements will go into effect no later than December 31, 2026, but could be implemented earlier if states choose.  
• Virginia’s state agencies are awaiting information on required systems changes and implementation guidance for both programs. 

“Dependent child” is now defined as a child 13 and younger.

• Previous federal code defined “dependent child” as a child younger than 18. However, now for the purposes of Medicaid and SNAP work reporting requirements, a dependent child is a child aged 13 and younger. Parents and caregivers of children aged 14 and older will be required to fulfill work reporting requirements for both programs.

There are differing impacts on Former Foster Youth.

• Former foster youth aged 19-26 are exempt from Medicaid work reporting requirements but will still have to verify their exemption status with their local agency. Former foster youth are no longer exempt from SNAP work requirements.

The impacts of this provision will be deeply felt by families with children. As a result of new work reporting requirements, estimates indicate that up to 50,000 Virginians in households with school-aged children and with no disabilities are at risk of losing some or all their SNAP benefits.  

Additionally, 188,000 Virginians could lose their Medicaid coverage, and for households with children, that could mean 9,000 – 27,000 children who lose coverage over the ten-year period due to their parents and caregivers having difficulties navigating complicated work reporting requirements. 

Passing the Cost of Health Care Services onto Enrollees

States have had the option to charge premiums and cost-sharing for members enrolled in Medicaid, but Virginia does not impose cost-sharing for services covered by Medicaid or FAMIS (our Children’s Health Insurance Program [CHIP]). H.R.1 now requires that states implement a cost-share of up to $35 per service for adults enrolled in Medicaid Expansion with incomes between 100% and 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL).  

This provision ignores the research that shows that higher out-of-pocket costs, especially for low-income individuals, are associated with reduced use of care and worse health outcomes. Research also finds that cost sharing can result in unintended consequences, such as increased use of the emergency room and higher uncompensated care costs. 

Under this provision, a family of four just above the federal poverty level (an income of $32,471.50) will be expected to pay up to $1,624, out of pocket, for covered services that are not exempted. This provision will allow providers to deny Medicaid enrollees certain services if they are unable to pay their shared cost. As we have seen in other states that have implemented cost sharing, this provision is directly associated with reduced care and loss of Medicaid coverage. 

Immigrant Eligibility

This bill drastically changes eligibility requirements for immigrant families with lawful status, further limiting their access to health care and food, and putting their children’s health and well-being at risk. The reality is that immigrants are already excluded from many basic needs programs and many face barriers, like five-year waiting periods before they can access programs like Medicaid and SNAP.  

Immigrant families are an integral part of our communities across the commonwealth, both culturally and economically. Immigrants contribute billions of dollars in taxes in Virginia each year, and their families deserve to access the supports that they help fund. Despite their significant contributions, H.R.1 further denies their families essential benefits by: 

• Terminating SNAP and Medicaid/CHIP eligibility for certain lawfully present immigrants, such as refugees, asylees, child and adult survivors of violence, and individuals granted humanitarian protections.  
• Terminating Marketplace coverage for people who are lawfully present earning below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level, meaning certain low-income immigrants will be ineligible for the Marketplace and Medicaid, denying them access to affordable health coverage. 
• Lowering the federal matching rate for Emergency Medicaid that funds emergency services provided to immigrants. Historically, states have been paid at the 90% federal match rate for providing “Emergency Medicaid” services to individuals who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid Expansion if not for their immigration status. This reduces the federal match to 50%, shifting costs to states for emergency care provided to immigrants.  

These changes that directly target immigrant parents will most certainly impact their children, many of whom are U.S. citizens. In Virginia households that participate in SNAP, 38,000 enrolled U.S. citizen children live with a non-citizen household member. And 14,000 SNAP recipients classified as refugees, asylum grantees, and those granted withholding of removal will be at risk of losing food assistance. The direct loss of benefit access and the chilling effects created by these changes will exacerbate the number of children in mixed-status households without access to health coverage and food assistance. 

Changes Leading to SNAP Benefit Erosion

Currently, Virginians on SNAP only get roughly $6 per person per day, an average of $178 per month. Families trying to keep up with the rising cost of food are already straining their budgets to ensure every household member gets fed. And for families on SNAP, the maximum benefit already doesn’t cover the cost of a “modestly priced” meal in a single Virginia locality. 

But rather than strengthening SNAP benefits and their purchasing power, H.R.1 includes several provisions that will contribute to further benefit erosion, guaranteeing that SNAP benefits will fail to cover the cost of a meal in every locality across Virginia: 

• Requiring updates to the Thrifty Food Plan to be cost neutral will prevent SNAP benefits from increasing alongside actual food costs, cutting the value of future benefits. Estimates show that restricting future adjustments to the TFP to account only for inflation will reduce SNAP benefits by roughly $7 per person per month over the 2027–2031 period and $15 per month in 2032 and 2033. This means that Virginians will lose $580 million in SNAP benefits between 2027-2033 as the price of feeding families continues to rise. Additionally, creating benefit erosion will further the gap between the maximum SNAP benefit and the cost of a modestly priced meal, ranging from a 35% gap in Lee County to a 110% gap in Alexandria. 
• Restricting Standard Utility Allowances to only Elderly and Disabled Household Members will force families with children to make impossible decisions like whether they will spend their limited resources on putting food on the table or cooling their homes during the summer months. Currently, the Standard Utility Allowance for Virginia is $369 for households of 1-3 and $467 for households of 4 or more. By restricting this allowance to only households with elderly and disabled members, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that some households will see a decrease in their monthly SNAP benefit by roughly $100/month. 
• Removing internet expense deductions from SNAP benefit calculations penalizes families with low incomes who rely on internet access for work, education, and health care access. Internet is an essential household expense, and often a significant expense. CBO estimates that monthly benefits will decrease by about $10 for roughly 65 percent of SNAP households, on average, in each year over 2026–2034. 

These cuts will layer onto one another and will make it more difficult for families to afford the healthy foods they need to thrive. Reductions in SNAP benefits will be costly to families and communities – increasing food insecurity and financial hardship for roughly 447,000 families who will lose all or some of their SNAP benefit because of this bill. This includes 73,000 families with children who will lose at least $25 per month in benefits, with the average family having a monthly benefit reduction of $78. Additionally, these cuts will directly impact over 400 SNAP retailers in Virginia, especially those in rural, low-income communities where community members already face food deserts. 

Cost Shifts to Virginia 

Virginia makes its budget on a biennial basis (every two years) and is required to have a balanced budget. But several provisions in H.R.1 shift exorbitant costs to the commonwealth, which will create strain on our state budget, putting lawmakers in a difficult place to decide whether to raise taxes or cut programs.  

The cost shifts in SNAP and Medicaid programs represent significant changes to the way that the programs have been financed. Historically, SNAP nutrition benefits have been funded solely by the federal government, while states paid half of administrative costs for the program. Medicaid, on the other hand, is jointly financed by federal and state governments, with states financing their share through a variety of sources, including provider taxes.  

H.R.1 requires states to pick up the tab for a portion of SNAP benefits on top of increasing the state share of administrative costs and restricts states’ ability to impose new taxes on health care providers in addition to gradually lowering the current provider tax threshold. These changes increase the cost burden on Virginia without giving lawmakers a pathway to quickly pay for it.  

• A state cost share for SNAP benefits will begin October 1, 2027, and is based upon a state’s SNAP payment error rate (PER). Virginia’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 PER is 11.5%, which means that Virginia would be responsible for a 15% state share of benefit costs. Based on FY24 PER, Virginia would be responsible for $264.8 million for just one year of benefit costs – but remember, Virginia budgets on a biennial basis. When this provision goes into effect, states can choose to use their FY25 or FY26 PER to determine the cost shift for federal FY28. While this does provide a “runway” for states to have more time to budget for their new state share, the overlapping timelines are confusing and the year-to-year volatility of payment error rates makes it difficult to plan for the cost-shifts on a biennial basis. 
• Starting October 1, 2026, Virginia will now be responsible for an additional 25% of administrative costs each year, increasing the state share to 75% of administrative costs. In FY23 under the 50/50 match, Virginia’s state and local administrative costs were roughly $174.3 million, and the federal government covered $175.6 million. Adding an additional 25%, based on FY23, would be roughly $88 million – bringing the total administrative costs to Virginia to $262 million for just one year. 
• The moratorium on new provider taxes and the gradual decline in the provider tax “safe harbor threshold” to 3.5% in FY32 impacts the way in which Virginia can tax hospitals to help finance its 10% state share of Medicaid Expansion costs. Dept. of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) Director, Cheryl Roberts, recently stated that this will not impact the ability for Virginia to fund the Medicaid Expansion population but will reduce supplemental payments to all 63 private acute hospitals, totaling billions of dollars. 

Combined impacts mean that Virginia will incur between $264.5 million and $352.8 million in new annual costs through a 10% – 15% state share, respectively, of SNAP benefits and a 75% share of administrative costs.  

The Impacts of These Cuts Will Culminate in
the Classroom

Young people cannot learn when they are sick, hungry, and stressed – and that is the state in which H.R.1 will leave many children. Having a healthy diet is paramount to a child’s physical and mental health, and their academic success depends on their overall well-being. Despite claims that the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in H.R.1 will not impact children, the truth is that children stand to be impacted the most by these cuts through cascading impacts on other programs.  

The changes to eligibility for SNAP and Medicaid will have downstream effects on students’ access to free school meals and other child nutrition programs. Participation in Medicaid and SNAP streamline access to programs like free and reduced-price school meals, WIC, Summer EBT (SUN Bucks), Summer Food Service Programs, At-Risk Afterschool Meal Programs, and Head Start. These programs utilize SNAP and Medicaid data to determine which students automatically qualify for other programs and which localities are most in need.  

When young people lose access to these programs, we will see reduced and interrupted access to health care and food assistance, worse health outcomes for newborns who are born to parents with worsening health conditions, and poorer child well-being. We will witness an increase in school absenteeism, deteriorated child and parental mental health, greater family financial instability, and as a result, increases in the number of cases of reported child neglect.   

Teachers and professionals who work in our school systems are often the first line of defense for our children, and they will be faced with the difficult task of nurturing and educating children who are no longer having their basic needs met outside of school. This bill sets everyone up for failure – from educators to health care providers, and from parents and caregivers to their children.  

Now is the Time for Lawmakers to Make Young
People the Agenda

With the decision-making power to fund continued progress, rather than rolling it back, sitting at the hands of our state lawmakers, Voices is turning its focus back to Virginia to center young people in policy decisions. Leading up to Virginia’s September Special Session and the 2026 legislative session, which begins in January 2026, Voices is educating state lawmakers on the impacts of H.R.1 and supporting advocates in sharing their stories.  

We encourage each and every advocate across the commonwealth to invite your state Delegate and Senator to see your programs in action and to meet the individuals who benefit from the supports and services that are at risk. Now is not the time to force the “either or” narrative onto programs and people across our commonwealth – instead of fighting for the same pieces of the pie, our state lawmakers must understand the holistic importance of ensuring everyone is well and identify ways to increase the size of the pie to ensure that everyone in a child’s life has their needs met and can thrive.  

As state lawmakers grapple with difficult decisions, we stand firm in demanding a fully funded Virginia for young people and their families. With decades of underfunding services specific to young people at both the state and federal levels, we must chart a path forward that creates a Virginia where every young person has a strong foundation to realize their brightest potential. The hits from H.R.1 make it a difficult path, but not an impossible one.

Ways You Can Engage and Use Your Voice to Make
Young People the Agenda

1. Advocacy and Storytelling 101 Trainings:  
   In the current, ever-changing social landscape, storytelling is imperative now, more than ever. This time will be spent sharing some of our strategies for crafting compelling stories, what it means to share your humanity with decision-makers, and discussing different ways you can get involved in systems change work at the local, state, and federal level. 
   August 28 from 2-3 PM: Register here.
   August 28 from 6-7 PM: Register here.
   
2. Join us for Voices’ Intergeneration Advocacy Day!  
   In January, Voices will host our annual Intergenerational Advocacy Day at the Virginia General Assembly. Save the Date for January 19, 2026, at the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond, VA!  
   
3. Subscribe to Voices’ policy-focused newsletter, Voices from the Capitol.
   Stay in the loop with our policy analysis, advocacy opportunities, and other ways to get involved. Subscribe here.
   

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