The Senate Committees began releasing their reconciliation bills over the past two weeks as Congress barrels toward the July 4th deadline that leadership has imposed upon itself. Below is an overview of changes and provisions in the Senate committee texts that CWLA is following; at the time of this writing, the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid and taxes, had not yet released its bill.

SNAP. The Senate Agriculture Committee introduced reconciliation bill text on June 12, 2025, that largely mimicked the House Agriculture Committee bill in its cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) explains the proposals in this summary; a few of the harmful provisions for children and families are as follows:

  • Expands work requirements. SNAP work requirements would extend to older adults and parents of children over the age of 9, and the exemption of homeless individuals and young adults from foster care would end. These provisions will lead to parents being forced to forgo food benefits or else leave children unattended or with less safe caregivers, and will lead to termination of benefits for grandparents raising grandchildren and young adults with foster care experience.
  • Shifts costs to states. Through increasing the cost-share of administrative costs and implementing a new state cost share of food benefit costs based on the state error rates, the bill shifts the cost of SNAP to states. Many states do not have these resources to spend on SNAP, and as a result, people will lose food benefits.
  • Restricts noncitizen eligibility. This proposal removes SNAP eligibility for several categories of lawfully present immigrants, including refugees, individuals granted asylum, and certain survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, or other humanitarian protections. Children and families who are rebuilding their lives after trauma will go hungry.
  • Limits various deductions, such as internet and utilities. By limiting or removing the costs of necessary utilities and internet, the bill penalizes people with low incomes, making it more difficult for them to qualify for food benefits. Children in families with low incomes will receive less food each month as a result.

Immigration. The Senate Judiciary Committee released their version of the reconciliation bill on June 13, 2025. The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) has updated its analysis to include Senate text and a comparison between the Senate and House bills, which is incredibly helpful. The text is largely unchanged from the House bill. A few of the provisions we are following include:

  • Targets unaccompanied children. The Senate bill provides Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with dramatic authority to coerce young children who arrive at the U.S. border without a parent to return back to the country they fled, alone. It directs CBP agents to conduct invasive and potentially traumatizing physical examinations of children as young as twelve. It removes one sponsorship fee from the House bill, but maintains an exorbitant fee structure that will result in children languishing in custody or being released into unsafe care.
  • Penalizes asylum seekers. A person seeking asylum in the United States will have to pay an “application fee” of at least $1,000 and at least another $550 every six months to get work authorization. The bill prohibits any fee waivers.
  • Ramps up deportation and family separation. The bill provides approximately $32 billion for immigration agents and operations related to enforcement and removal.
  • Increases family detention. The Homeland Security text permits DHS to detain families pending removal decisions and/or removal itself. It provides no ceiling on these pendency periods, meaning that children could endure detention for months or even years at grave detriment to their welfare.

Education. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee introduced reconciliation bill text on June 10, 2025. Although the Senate has pared back or rejected many of the most harmful changes proposed by the House, the bill still harms the lowest-income loan borrowers and students; see this analysis from The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS). The bill:

  • Removes harmful cuts to Pell Grants in the House bill, but would extend Pell eligibility to unaccredited programs that are unlikely to pay off for students.
  • Changes the student loan repayment system and eliminates existing protections for borrowers.

What happens next? In order for a bill to pass by Independence Day, the Senate will need to wrap up and pass their version sometime next week, so that the House can take it up the following week. The Senate Finance Committee is expected to release text early this week, which will include both Medicaid and tax provisions, including the child tax credit.

There is still a long way to go, especially without the Medicaid and tax package available yet, and it’s unclear if House members will accept the changes that Senate Committees have made.