Last month Congress passed a bill that is supposed to save the U.S. government $8.6 billion in food-stamp costs over the next decade but three states have found a way to "game" the system.

According to the Washington Post, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania are devoting funds to home-heating assistance programs, which under law permits additional food stamp money to families of states that provide a certain amount of money to those families.

About 15 states and the District of Columbia "gamed" the previous farm law system, which gave additional food stamps to families who had received as little as $1 a year from the state in home-heating assistance.

The new law, which raised the minimum amount a household needed to receive from the state from $1 a year to $20 a year, would have ideally thwarted the 15 states from qualifying its residents.

However, the new system has drawn concern from deficit monitors while anti-hunger activists urge other states to follow suit. The federal government would be forced to spend part of the $8.6 billion it was planning on saving if more states decide to go through the loophole.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told the Post, "Some states will be able to do it, some states will not be able to. No one knows for how long they'll be able to do it. They have jumped into the breach where the federal government abdicated its responsibility."

Congress' reform of agriculture and food policy also came as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- food stamps -- more than doubled in the last five years. According to the Post, in 2013, the program spent a record $79.9 billion.

Chairman of the House Agriculture subcommittee Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said "We didn't expect that, or we would've written it in the language to prohibit it." The action, while legal, is "perverse, just perverse."

New York raised home-heating spending by $6 million which triggered an additional $457 million a year in food-stamps.

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said in a Feb. 25 statement that actions taken to aid its citizens with food stamps is necessary.

"These federal cuts have made it harder for our state's most vulnerable residents to put food on the table. The state has intervened on behalf of these low-income New Yorkers," Cuomo said. "New York is stepping up to help families in need."