Overview
- The House, which approved the change Thursday in a 384–35 vote, attached it to the 2026 Farm Bill as the Healthy Obtainable Tasty Rotisserie Chicken Act from Rep. Rick Crawford.
- The carve‑out lets SNAP users buy hot rotisserie chicken at eligible grocery retailers and does not expand benefits to restaurants or change funding levels or who qualifies.
- The provision now moves to the Senate within the farm bill, alongside a parallel bipartisan Senate push led by John Fetterman with Jim Justice, Shelley Moore Capito, and Michael Bennet.
- Support split surfaced among Democrats as leaders like Hakeem Jeffries and Grace Meng argued for covering all hot supermarket foods and cited reported SNAP cuts in the broader farm bill as a reason to resist a narrow fix.
- Backers, including the National Chicken Council, say the decades‑old hot‑food ban forces stores to cool cooked chickens for SNAP buyers, which wastes energy and blocks a low‑cost protein for families with limited time, kitchens, or disabilities; SNAP aids about 41–42 million people.