Senior Hunger Prevention Act of 2026

Older and disabled household members could count a flat $155 in medical costs instead of adding up actual bills. Counting more costs means a bigger monthly benefit, starting in fiscal year 2027.

One- and two-person households now get at least 8 percent of the largest benefit for one person. The bill would raise that floor to one-third of that amount.

Households where every adult is 60 or older, or has a disability, could stay signed up for three years. Today they must renew every two years.

States could offer a simpler track for older and disabled households with no job income. The renewal interview would be skipped unless the household asks for one, and it can be done by video.

States could offer one combined form for food aid and disability benefits, working with Social Security. The aim is fewer trips to a state office.

Older and disabled participants who cannot shop, or who lack safe transportation, could have groceries brought to them at no cost. States would pay stores back up to $10 per delivery.

A federal program hands out monthly boxes of food to low-income people 60 and older. The bill would add low-income adults with disabilities and set the income cutoff at 185 percent of the poverty line.

This program gives seniors money to spend on fresh food at farmers' markets. The bill would set each person's benefit between $35 and $80 and open the program to adults with disabilities.

Stores could only be paid back for deliveries made by their own employees, or by employees of a firm they hire. Drivers must also earn at least the highest minimum wage that applies where they work.

Workers must get health and safety training from their employer before their first delivery. The training must follow the latest CDC guidance.

Stores and nonprofit meal services that cannot cover delivery costs would be paid back, up to $10 per delivery. Only smaller stores that fit federal small-business size limits would qualify.

Farm co-ops, nonprofits, and local governments could get loans or grants to build or fix farmers' markets through 2031. Markets that take the money must be reachable by public transit and save half their space for local food.

Each state must send USDA a plan for how grocery delivery will work. USDA must post that plan, its approval or denial, and any guidance it gives the state.

Money for the food box program, farmers' market building, and the local produce pilot runs only through fiscal year 2031. Congress would have to act again to keep them going.