President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" reportedly includes major changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), potentially impacting millions of low-income Americans and placing new burdens on states.
What Happened: The bill proposes to cut federal SNAP spending by $295 billion over the next decade, mainly by requiring states to bear more of the cost and by increasing work requirements, reported the Associated Press.
Currently, over 42 million people receive food aid through SNAP, but the Congressional Budget Office projects that changes could remove 3.2 million individuals from the program on average each month. Work requirements would now be applicable to adults up to age 64 and some parents with children older than 7.
States with high error rates in payment processing could be required to pay up to 25% of SNAP food benefit costs. The bill also caps inflation adjustments, which means the average household could lose about $15 per month in benefits by 2034.
Why It Matters: This cost-shifting is likely to strain state budgets, with many possibly reducing benefits to make ends meet. Only three states had payment error rates under 5% in 2023, while the national average was 11.7%. The legislation also targets legally present non-citizens, withdrawing benefits from up to 250,000 people.
According to the Centre for Budget and Policy Priorities, the new changes are likely to "worsen hunger" and "hurt states' ability to meet residents' needs."
Apart from cuts to SNAP, the bill also includes cuts to other social safety programs like Medicaid, which have drawn widespread backlash from prominent politicians such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt).
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