FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Arkansas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree to increase the food stamp asset limit in Arkansas.

With bipartisan support, both parties agree more stomachs need to be filled and more tables need to be set if Senate Bill 306 is signed into law.

Senate Bill 306 seeks to change the asset limits for the supplemental nutrition assistance program also known as food stamps.

“This bill is designed to let low-income Arkansans build their way out of poverty,” State Sen. Clarke Tucker said.

Tucker, a Democrat, says if signed into law, the Department of Human Services will submit a waiver to the federal government to increase the current asset to $5,500.

“If they save more than that $2,250, all of a sudden they lose their SNAP eligibility and they can’t feed their kids and so that’s some other drivers behind this policy,” Tucker said.

Republican State Sen. Justin Boyd says the bill also provides low-income families with assistance now and in the future, so they can not only have food to eat but also leftover money in the bank.

“It would allow people who are working on food stamps to save up to $5,500 and there would be a year time to do that,” Boyd said.

Boyd also says he was not surprised that the bill passed with bipartisan support, as this bill represents Arkansas values.

“We do have our issues where they’re partisan in nature, but so much what we really do is what brings Arkansas together,” Boyd said.

Tucker says this is a step in the right direction to tackle poverty, but they still have a ways to go.

“We need to let poor people build and work their way out of poverty and the policy that we have in place right now is not giving them a chance to do that,” Tucker said.