(NEXSTAR) – Time is ticking for states to slash their error rates or risk losing a sizable amount of federal funding for SNAP.

The pressure comes from a law passed last year that ties error rates to federal funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the program formerly known as Food Stamps.

States need to meet a target error rate under 6% to avoid being impacted, but so far only a small minority have made the cut. As of the 2025 fiscal year , only nine states had error rates under 6% and 41 states were still in trouble.

What are SNAP error rates?

The error rate refers to the percentage of SNAP benefits paid either above or below what people should have received, primarily because of mistakes.…