PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 24, 2025
America Works Act of 2025
This bill expands the applicability of work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients who are able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). As background, these SNAP recipients have work-related requirements in addition to the general SNAP work registration and employment and training requirements.
Specifically, the bill amends the exemptions to this requirement.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
First, the bill applies the work requirements for ABAWDs to adults who are not over 65 years old, whereas these requirements currently apply to adults who are not over 55 years old.
Second, the ABAWD exemption for a parent or household member with responsibility for a dependent child is restricted to a dependent child under the age of seven. Currently, the child must be under the age of 18.
Third, the bill repeals the ABAWD exemptions for homeless individuals, veterans, and certain foster care individuals (those who are 24 years old or younger and were in foster care on the date of attaining 18 years of age or a higher age).
In addition, under current law, an ABAWD waiver program allows state exemptions based on an area having an unemployment rate of over 10% or an insufficient number of jobs. The bill amends the exemption to require the unemployment rate to be based on the rate for the county, instead of the area. Further, the bill repeals the provision that allows a state exemption if that area does not have a sufficient number of jobs.
People & committees
Rep. Johnson, Dusty [R-SD-At Large] · R–SD
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture.
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: May 6, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1528 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1528 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1528 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1528 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-24 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed America Works Act of 2025 would rewrite exemptions from a rule in the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, affecting people based on age, fitness for employment, caregiving responsibilities, pregnancy, and other exemptions. It would also change the conditions for state-requested waivers, requiring unemployment above 10 percent in the county or equivalent area. The underlying rule is not reproduced, which limits what this source establishes about the practical changes.
This Act may be cited as the America Works Act of 2025.
Section 6(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 is amended— (1) by amending paragraph (3) to read as follows:
(A) under 18 or over 65 years of age; (B) medically certified as physically or mentally unfit for employment; (C) is a parent or other member of a household with responsibility for a dependent child under 7 years of age; (D) otherwise exempt under subsection (d)(2); or (E) a pregnant woman.
the Secretary may waive the applicability of paragraph (2) to any group of individuals in the State if the Secretary makes the determination that the county or county-equivalent in which the individuals reside has an unemployment rate of over 10 percent.
The replacement exemptions would make section 6(o)(2) inapplicable to people under 18 or over 65, and to parents or other household members responsible for a dependent child under 7. The age exemption does not include someone solely because they are 65.
Paragraph (2) shall not apply to an individual if the individual is— (A) under 18 or over 65 years of age;
(C) is a parent or other member of a household with responsibility for a dependent child under 7 years of age;
The replacement exemptions would also cover people medically certified as physically or mentally unfit for employment, pregnant women, and people otherwise exempt under subsection (d)(2). That referenced subsection is not reproduced in the bundle.
Paragraph (2) shall not apply to an individual if the individual is—
(B) medically certified as physically or mentally unfit for employment;
(D) otherwise exempt under subsection (d)(2); or (E) a pregnant woman.
A state agency could request a waiver for a group of people with support from the state's chief executive. The Secretary could grant it after determining that unemployment exceeds 10 percent in the county or equivalent area where those people live. Granting a waiver would be discretionary.
On the request of a State agency and with the support of the chief executive officer of the State, the Secretary may waive the applicability of paragraph (2) to any group of individuals in the State if the Secretary makes the determination that the county or county-equivalent in which the individuals reside has an unemployment rate of over 10 percent.
The bill would delete subsection (b) of section 311 in title II, division C of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The deleted language is not supplied, so this bundle does not establish the deletion's practical effect.
(b) Conforming amendment Section 311 of title II of division C of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (Public Law 118–5; 137 STAT. 36) is amended by striking subsection (b).
The official-actions snapshot updated May 6, 2025 records introduction and referral to the House Committee on Agriculture on February 24, 2025, followed by referral to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture on March 28, 2025. It does not establish subsequent action or enactment.
Source snapshot updated 2025-05-06T19:15:22Z. 2025-03-28: Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture. 2025-02-24: Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. 2025-02-24: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-24. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced version. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials; the omitted statutory language limits assessment of the conforming deletion.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced version. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow preferential benefit warranting a finding was identified in the complete supplied introduced version. Broad eligibility exemptions alone do not establish preferential treatment under this review. This conclusion does not extend to other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: May 6, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI