Unprioritized bills, like SNAP measure to help Nebraska refugees, face uncertain future

By Noelle Annonen , Multimedia Reporter

10 de Abril de 2026 a las 06:00 ·

Nebraska Capitol (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)

Listen To This Story

The 2026 legislative session is wrapping up, and while state senators have reviewed more than 750 bills over the last 60 legislative days, some proposed legislation never got a debate or a vote. That includes a bill that would have tried to restore SNAP benefits for refugees, like Nyachan Wandong.

Wandong and her four kids are new to Lincoln. They’ve called the city home for just over a year. And the journey, like those for many refugees, was a long one. It took her 11 years to seek asylum in the United States from South Sudan. During that stretch of time, her husband passed away.

Speaking through her translator, Sebit Deng, she said the first few months they lived in Nebraska, she and her family did well.

“When we came here, we had quite a good welcome,” Deng translated for Wandong. “We got cash assistance. We got help. We got food stamps. Everything went well until the food stamps were cut. Not only for us but [for] most of the families we know.”

In November, Wandong and her family were no longer eligible for food stamps under the SNAP program. The change came under the Big Beautiful Bill, passed by Republicans in Congress last summer. Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services said in October that the change could impact around 6,300 immigrants in the state.

“The situation was overwhelming to all of us, when the food stamps were cut off,” Wandong said. “I have a full-time job, but we are barely, barely making it because there are many bills I have to pay. It’s difficult to manage.”

Deng said that Wandong walks to her full-time job at a University of Nebraska-Lincoln cafeteria, since she doesn’t have a car. Without accessible transportation, Wandong doesn’t know how she would manage to get a second job. In the meantime, she said she is always choosing between bills, rent and food.

“So now it’s just – okay, let me postpone this; let me eat now; and pay for this now; and I stress if the lights will be turned off,” Wandong said. “If the food stamps came back, I could use the money for the food to pay the bill.”

Wandong is in the midst of one of the toughest times for refugees immigrating to the United States. It can take two to three years for immigrants to learn the language, save money and get on their feet. Then, they get off of the SNAP program, according to Catholic Social Services, which assists families like Wandong’s.

Sen. Victor Rountree pointed out that SNAP is not a permanent solution for any family.

“Many people don’t want a handout,” Rountree said. “People want to be treated with dignity. And sometimes we all have found ourselves in a position where we need some help.”

Rountree pitched a bill in the legislature that would change things for people like Wandong. The bill would have had the state DHHS apply to the federal government for a waiver from the new SNAP rules that make immigrants and refugees ineligible for benefits. Testifiers from across the state came to Lincoln for the bill’s hearing to advocate for immigrants and refugees they know.

“Right now we’re at some of the highest costs we’ve had, and individual families are struggling,” Rountree said. “We’ve brought immigrants and refugees that have come into this country with the promise that we would take care of them and help them get on their feet.”

Unprioritized bills face uncertain futures

Refugees will have to hold out for help a bit longer now, since Rountree’s proposal stalled. It wasn’t the state senator’s priority bill, which means the measure, like many others, will have to wait to be revisited in a future legislative session.

Each senator only gets one priority bill that's guaranteed to go before the full Legislature for a vote. This session, Rountree opted to prioritize a bill that would help create accessible housing for disabled people in Nebraska. Without someone to prioritize it, Rountree’s SNAP bill will fall through the cracks, without a debate or vote, like many bills this session.

“It’s all fair and equitable and it’s all about balance,” Rountree said. “And so each one gets his own place. And depending on which one rises to the top, that’s the one we focus on for the day.”

For people like Eric Saviano, with Nebraska Appleseed, bills stalling is a fact of life. But not one that signals the end of their advocacy.

“We think of this in terms of the long term,” Saviano said. “We think of this in terms of impacting the community narrative around SNAP, which can sometimes be hard.”

Saviano said Nebraska Appleseed helped draft the bill after hearing from immigrant and refugee communities about the impact losing SNAP has on their lives.

“We’ve heard of families losing their rent and their place to live and they’ve moved in with other refugee families,” Saviano said. “One family I know of, I think they have 19 people in a one-family home, one upstairs and one downstairs, just to save on expenses.”

This has been the reality now in Nebraska for at least six months, since Nebraska and several other red states took the initiative to jumpstart the refugee-specific SNAP rule into place last fall. And with federal changes now taking effect, more immigrants across the country will start to feel the effects.

Saviano said efforts like Rountree’s SNAP bill can create conversation and give an opportunity to counter stereotypes about people who are using SNAP benefits.

“These folks are kind of unjustly singled out,” Saviano said. “And it would be a huge statement if our state stood up and said that ‘No, we do not agree with this one big bill, it is not beautiful in any way, and it is harming our communities.’”

Saviano said Appleseed will explore other ways to change the law to help people like Wandong, or wait for the next legislative session.