How did Republicans vote on SNAP benefits in 2023 and 2024?

1. How Republicans voted on short-term SNAP fixes during the shutdown — a fractured GOP

When the government shutdown threatened SNAP payouts, Senate Republicans split: some senators co-sponsored Sen. Josh Hawley’s “Keep SNAP Funded” bill to continue benefits during the lapse, with about 10–15 GOP co-sponsors reported, but Senate Republican leaders (including John Thune and Whip John Barrasso) resisted bringing that bill or other Democratic-backed fixes to the floor, and GOP senators objected to unanimous-consent efforts by Democrats to fund SNAP — effectively blocking immediate Democratic-led moves to fully restore benefits in late 2025 ^{[1] [2] [7] [3]}.

2. Republican messaging vs. Democratic messaging — competing narratives on blame

House Republican leaders and GOP committees framed the record as Republicans voting repeatedly to fund SNAP and blamed Democrats for rejecting “clean” continuing resolutions; they publicly said Republicans voted to “ensure critical operations and programs, including SNAP, remain uninterrupted” and that Democrats “voted 12–14 times” against bills they tied to other demands ^{[8] [9] [10]}. Democrats and some news outlets countered that many of those votes were on Republican bills that Democrats declined to support because of unrelated policy conditions, and that only a handful of Democrats voted for the specific temporary funding measures cited ^{[11] [10]}.

3. Senate procedure and leadership choices shaped outcomes

Reporting shows the practical reason Republican-backed proposals did not immediately restore full SNAP benefits was often procedural: Senate leaders declined to schedule votes on Hawley’s bill or other GOP options, and Senate Republicans used objections to block unanimous-consent or non-binding resolutions from Democrats — choices Senators like Thune framed as insisting the vote should be on reopening the whole government rather than piecemeal fixes ^{[2] [7] [12]}.

4. Which Republicans pushed alternative bills and which resisted a vote

A group of GOP senators publicly supported Hawley’s measure and other Republican-authored options to maintain SNAP during the shutdown; reports list a growing number of Republican co-sponsors and supporters (roughly 10–15 GOP senators by some accounts) ^{[1] [13]}. At the same time, key Senate leaders and the White House signaled reluctance to bring those bills to the floor because they wanted leverage to reopen the entire government, creating the impression that Republicans as a conference both proposed and blocked SNAP fixes ^{[2] [14]}.

5. Longer-term Republican policy direction on SNAP — committee votes and reconciliation

Beyond short-term funding fights, House Republicans advanced a reconciliation package and committee-level measures that would substantially change SNAP: the House Agriculture Committee approved proposals on a party-line vote that advocates say would impose new work limits, shift costs to states and cut roughly $300 billion from SNAP over a decade — a move major advocacy groups and the Congressional Budget Office warned would shrink benefits for millions ^{[4] [15]}. Politico and CBPP reporting document that these legislative choices reflect a GOP approach favoring stricter work requirements and state cost-sharing ^{[6] [15]}.

6. What the public and some Republicans say about political risk

Opinion and polling cited in the available material indicate SNAP remains broadly popular across party lines and that interruptions to benefits could affect voters in both parties; some Republicans warned about political consequences of cutting aid, and at least a few GOP senators urged voting to keep SNAP flowing — illustrating internal Republican concern about harming constituents who rely on the program ^{[16] [17] [18]}.

7. Limitations and gaps in reporting

Available sources focus heavily on the 2025 shutdown fight and on committee/reconciliation actions in 2025; they document GOP sponsorship of bills, procedural blocks in the Senate, and House Republican policy proposals, but they do not provide a simple roll-call ledger of every Republican vote on every SNAP-related measure in 2023–2024. For specific roll-call numbers by year or an itemized list of each House and Senate Republican vote in 2023 and 2024, available sources do not mention that level of detail (not found in current reporting).

Conclusion — what to take away: Republicans were not monolithic. Some GOP lawmakers repeatedly sponsored or supported measures to keep SNAP funded in the immediate crisis, while Senate GOP leadership frequently resisted piecemeal votes and objected to Democratic proposals; separately, House Republican policymaking pushed for deep, long-term cut-and-reform proposals that would reduce federal SNAP spending and impose stricter rules ^{[1] [2] [4] [15]}.