Congress moves to feed striking workers, removing Depression-era SNAP ban
S. 1156 — Food Secure Strikers Act of 2025 · Filed by John Fetterman (D-PA) · 15 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 26, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to remove a rule that makes striking workers and their households ineligible for SNAP (food stamps). Currently, federal law bars SNAP eligibility for households where someone is on strike; this bill deletes that bar, allowing striking workers' families to receive nutrition assistance during labor disputes.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to restore SNAP eligibility to striking workers by removing a federal prohibition. It is fundamentally a labor-protection measure that uses food-assistance policy as the vehicle, ensuring workers can sustain themselves during strikes without facing additional economic penalties.
What the text implies
- Removal of the strike-eligibility bar may increase SNAP enrollment during labor disputes, with fiscal impact depending on strike frequency and household size; the bill contains no appropriations offset or sunset clause.
- The change applies retroactively to all striking workers and their households once enacted, potentially affecting ongoing labor disputes and creating a new baseline for future strikes.
- Employers may face indirect pressure during labor negotiations, as workers' ability to sustain food security during strikes reduces the economic leverage of prolonged work stoppages.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Striking workers and their families face immediate income loss during labor disputes; removing the SNAP eligibility bar ensures they retain access to food assistance during strikes, reducing hardship and economic coercion against union activity. The change strengthens the ability of workers to sustain themselves during collective bargaining without facing food insecurity.
Who stands to gain
- striking workers and their households (direct SNAP recipients)
Named in the bill
Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), striking workers, households
Where it stands
15 cosponsors: 14 Democrats, 1 Independents.
- Mar 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 26, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (714 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 2026-10-20.
“Congress moves to feed striking workers, removing Depression-era SNAP ban” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1156 Report an error
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