HR6986Referred to Committee

COLAs Don’t Count Act of 2026

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Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2026-01-08
Introduced
7
Cosponsors
HR
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Gwen Moore
Gwen Moore
Democrat · WI · Representative
Votes with party: 97.4% (536 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/M001160

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (7)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture.

2026-05-20

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

Previously

Plain-English Summary

The proposal would exclude cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) from being counted as income when determining eligibility for federal food assistance programs like SNAP (food stamps). This means that when people receive automatic benefit increases to keep up with inflation, those increases wouldn't reduce their food aid eligibility or benefits. The change would help low-income individuals and families maintain their nutrition assistance during periods of rising costs.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Subjects

Agriculture and Food

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 6986 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6986 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to exclude from income, for the purpose of determining eligibility and benefits, increased income received from cost of living adjustments made under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act, section 3(a)(1) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231b(a)(1)), or section 5312 of title 38 of the United States Code, and income received from supplementary payments received under section 1616 of the Social Security Act. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 8, 2026 Ms. Moore of Wisconsin (for herself, Ms. Chu, Ms. Balint, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Norton, and Mr. Scott of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to exclude from income, for the purpose of determining eligibility and benefits, increased income received from cost of living adjustments made under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act, section 3(a)(1) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231b(a)(1)), or section 5312 of title 38 of the United States Code, and income received from supplementary payments received under section 1616 of the Social Security Act. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``COLAs Don't Count Act of 2026''. SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. Section 5(d) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014(d)) is amended-- (1) is by amending paragraph (12) to read as follows: ``(12) through September 30 of any fiscal year any increase in income attributable to a cost-of-living adjustment made on or after January 1st of such fiscal year under title II or XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq., 1381 et seq.), section 3(a)(1) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231b(a)(1)), or section 5312 of title 38 of the United States Code, if the household was certified as eligible to participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance program or received an allotment in the month immediately preceding the first month in which the adjustment was effective;'', (2) in paragraph (18) by striking ``and'' at the end, (3) by redesignating paragraph (19) as paragraph (20), and (4) by inserting after paragraph (18) the following: ``(19) supplementary payments received under section 1616 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1382e); and''. SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on October 1, 2027. <all>
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