Actions By The Trump Administration Resulting In The Tragic Loss of Food Benefits For Millions Of Americans
Have you ever been hungry because you did not have enough food to eat for dinner or breakfast the next morning? Have you ever lived in a home where the food pantry was bare? Have you waited for the free school lunch as your only meal of the day? Have you ever stuffed your pockets with that free food to bring home to your family? Persons reading this column would be extremely unlikely to answer, "yes" to any of these questions.
Yet millions of Americans now are giving the opposite answer.
Why is that?
President Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" made significant changes to the federal food stamp Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP") law, including stricter eligibility rules and states having increased share of the program's cost.
How extensive were these changes and what effect did they have?
The changes were profound. More Americans will now go hungry than ever before. The changes were relatively simple. Effective June 1st, adults ages 55 to 64 are now subject to work requirements. Those individuals were previously exempt from the work requirement. Recipients of benefits must train, volunteer, or participate in approved activities for roughly 80 hours per month to maintain benefits. Those persons not meeting that requirement would be limited to 3 months of benefits in a 3-year period. The purchase of certain food items such as soda and candy is also restricted absent state waivers.
The Congressional Budget Office ("CBO") has tracked the law's impact. It found that about 4 million people per month would be affected and the decline in participation already observed since the law's inception in July 2025 through February 2026 has been 3.5 million fewer participants nationwide. Its August 2025 report stated that work requirement expansions accounted for the largest enrollment reductions and restrictions on waivers for areas with weak labor markets further reduced eligibility.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (a private organization) found that 1 million older adults ages 55 to 64 because of the work requirements in addition to other factors such as health limitations and caregiving responsibilities could lose food assistance. In addition, in a report it released in May 2026 found that in 12 states with publicly available data that the number of children receiving SNAP benefits had fallen by more than 700,000 since the enactment of the law in July 2025.
As of June 2026, there has been no nationwide court order blocking the statutory changes enacted by Congress in July 2025. Litigation has been focused on implementation and administration rather than invalidation of the law. Academic studies have found that there have been employment gains offset by large-scale loss of benefits. The CBO estimates that SNAP spending through 2034 will be reduced by approximately $187 billion.
Do parents tell their children we have to be hungry so we can fight the war in Iran? It was not a Big Beautiful Bill for all those adults and children who are now hungry.
The question, of course, is whether that saving of billions of dollars to be spent otherwise by the federal government is worth the millions of adults and children now going hungry.
We think not.
The Barbara McDowell Social Justice Center