The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump, has already caused SNAP participation to drop by more than 4 million people across the United States.
More than 3.5 million low-income individuals and families lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits between July and February as the new legislation’s rules began taking effect.
The Congressional Budget Office has calculated that the Republican-backed legislation contains $187 billion in cuts to SNAP over its lifetime.
More than 700,000 children have lost SNAP benefits across 12 states alone, with participation falling by at least 5 percent in 42 states nationwide.
At least 21 states have seen SNAP participation decline by 10 percent or more, signaling the breadth and speed of the law’s impact on food assistance access.
Arizona experienced one of the sharpest drops, losing 51 percent of its SNAP beneficiaries, while Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia have also recorded significant declines in participation.
The law expanded work requirements for SNAP access to cover individuals aged 55 through 64, parents of children aged 14 and older, and those who are homeless, veterans, or former foster youth.
Certain legal U.S. residents who are not citizens have also been rendered ineligible for SNAP benefits under the new rules established by the legislation.
Despite the falling SNAP rolls, the national unemployment rate has held steady at around 4 percent since July, making it, in the words of analysts tracking the data, “very unlikely” that reduced need is driving the decline.
California Food Banks is now serving 6 million people per month, a figure that surpasses even the peak of the Covid pandemic, when the organization served 4.5 million people per month.
Many of the law’s most consequential provisions have not yet fully taken effect, with new Medicaid work requirements and further SNAP restrictions still set to be implemented in the coming years.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the health care provisions of the law alone will leave 10 million more Americans uninsured by 2034, compounding the food assistance losses already being felt across the country.
