LIFT the BAR Act

Key Points

• The bill removes longstanding restrictions that blocked lawfully present immigrants from accessing federal benefits programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and CHIP. It repeals key sections of the 1996 welfare reform law that imposed five-year waiting periods and other eligibility bars on legal immigrants.
• The bill reverses several provisions from the 2025 reconciliation law (Public Law 119-21) that restricted immigrant access to SNAP, Medicaid, CHIP, and Medicare. It restores those programs as if the restrictions had never been enacted.
• The bill expands who counts as a "qualified noncitizen" eligible for benefits, including DACA recipients, special immigrant juveniles, and anyone who is federally authorized to be present in the United States.
• The bill also opens up federal housing assistance to qualified noncitizens by amending the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980, and it restores premium tax credits for certain lawfully present immigrants with household incomes at or below the poverty line.
• Federal agencies would have 180 days after enactment to issue guidance on implementing the changes, and the new benefits would become available 180 days after that guidance is issued.