Bill makes SNAP fraud penalties bigger and checks stores more often.
H.R. 9649 — Stop Retail Food Store SNAP Trafficking Act of 2026 · Filed by Tim Burchett (R-TN) · Introduced Jul 13, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells the USDA to find stores that illegally trade SNAP benefits for cash. It raises the penalty to $250,000. The USDA can kick stores out more often. The bill asks the USDA to measure how much illegal trading happens. It must check those numbers with real store data.
Who it affects
SNAP users and people who pay taxes are affected. Stores that take part in SNAP are affected.
One thing to notice
The bill raises penalties to $250,000 and may cost small stores more than big stores.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 13, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 13, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- SNAP — A program that gives money to buy food to people who need help.
- penalty — Money a store must pay when it breaks a rule.
- kick stores out — To remove a store from the SNAP program.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,673 characters) on Jul 22, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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