H.R. 2357: Food Secure Strikers Act of 2025

Since 1981, federal SNAP law has treated a strike differently from every other drop in income. A household with a member on strike cannot join SNAP. A household that was already enrolled keeps its benefits, but it cannot get a larger amount because the striker's pay disappeared.

H.R. 2357 deletes that strike rule, so a striking worker's household would qualify for SNAP the same way any other household with the same income would. A laid-off worker and a striking worker earning nothing would be treated alike.

The freeze is where the practical difference shows up. Say your family received $250 a month in SNAP before the strike. Today that stays $250 while your wages fall to zero. Under the bill, your caseworker would recalculate the benefit on the income you actually have that month.

The bill also removes a separate rule covering government workers. Federal, state, and local employees fired for striking against their public employer are now treated as if they quit their job without good cause, which can trigger a SNAP work-rule penalty. H.R. 2357 strikes that provision.

Everything else about SNAP stays in place: income and asset limits, household rules, and work requirements. The Supreme Court upheld the current strike rule in 1988 in Lyng v. UAW, finding Congress had the power to write it, which means Congress is also the body that would have to repeal it.