House Budget Bill Targets $300B in SNAP Cuts — 4 Potential Impacts To Benefits
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Cory Dudak
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Americans who depend on food stamps to help them buy groceries could see their benefits slashed if Congress passes President Trump’s budget bill, which he personally dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The bill certainly includes big cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federal program that helps about 40 million Americans buy healthy food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The U.S. House passed a version of the bill in late May that includes nearly $300 billion in SNAP cuts, according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), which cited Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates.
The bill is now being weighed by the Senate, where it’s expected to face a tougher fight. A few key Republican senators have voiced opposition to the House version. However, as USA Today reported, much of that opposition has to do with a desire to cut more spending from the bill, protect certain energy subsidies or avoid slashing Medicaid funding. There is little, if any, GOP opposition to cutting SNAP benefits, at least publicly.
The SNAP cuts do face plenty of opposition from advocacy groups, though. Jason Gromley, Senior Director for Share Our Strength and its No Kid Hungry campaign, called the bill “a vote to increase childhood hunger.”
“This proposal reflects the largest and most extreme cuts to SNAP in history,” Gromley said in a press release. “These cuts will do nothing to improve the lives of Americans, and will make it even harder for those who do receive benefits to afford enough food to feed their families.”
According to the CBPP, here are four ways the proposed cuts will impact SNAP benefits.
Less Food Assistance for Children
More than 2 million children will see food assistance to their families either “cut substantially” or ended altogether. That figure is based on CBO estimates of the bill’s SNAP provisions impact. It doesn’t include provisions that prevent future benefit increases, which will impact all SNAP recipients.
Increased Restrictions on Eligible Adults
As the CBPP noted, under current SNAP rules, adults without children in their homes are limited to three months of benefits out of every three years if they can’t prove that they either meet a 20-hour-per-week work requirement, or are exempt from the requirement. The House bill would expand the restriction to parents of children over the age of 6, and to older adults aged 55 to 64.
Expanding the work requirement would cut SNAP by $92 billion through 2034, according to the CBO. It also would take food assistance away “entirely” from 3.2 million adults in a typical month. One result is that about 1 million children would see their food benefits reduced substantially.
Make It Harder for Kids To Get School Meals
The House bill would cut federal spending on school lunches and breakfasts by $700 million, according to the CBO. This would affect about 420,000 children in an average month by ending their school meals and/or cutting off their summer SNAP payments.
End Assistance for Certain Immigrant Families
The House bill also would eliminate all SNAP assistance for up to 250,000 foreign-born residents — including roughly 50,000 children — who are legal residents of the U.S. Many are refugees and people granted asylum who’ve proven to have fled violence and persecution in other countries, according to the CBPP.
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