[[link removed]]

FOOD STAMPS ARE BACK, BUT MILLIONS WILL SOON LOSE BENEFITS
PERMANENTLY  
[[link removed]]


 

Marcia Brown
November 15, 2025
Politico
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Even though the shutdown is over, the GOP’s signature tax and
spending law is poised to kick people off the nation’s largest
anti-hunger program. _

An employee stocks papayas at Price Choice supermarket in Miami,
which participates in USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program., Lynne Sladky/AP

 

Millions of Americans greeted the end of the government shutdown —
and the resumption of food stamp benefits — with relief. But others
are learning they could soon lose federal food aid permanently.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins directed USDA staff during the
record-setting 43-day shutdown to continue ushering states toward
compliance with Republicans’ signature tax and spending law, which
is projected to kick millions out of the nation’s largest
anti-hunger program in the next few months.

Those changes, combined with other provisions in the new law, will
represent the most significant cuts to the social safety net in
decades. And it all comes as low-income families are confronting
stagnating wages
[[link removed]]
that aren’t keeping up with the skyrocketing cost of living — an
issue that some Republicans blamed for their losses in off-year
elections this month.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides an average of
$6 per day for nearly 42 million people, roughly 40 percent of whom
are children
[[link removed]]. Under
the new law, parents and older Americans will be required to meet
stricter work requirements, and states eventually will have to share
in the cost of SNAP benefits, which could force further program cuts,
according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Tens of
thousands of legal immigrants will also lose access to the program
under the law.

The loss of SNAP “was really stark during the shutdown,” said
Dottie Rosenbaum, director of federal SNAP policy at the left-leaning
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “But [the One Big Beautiful
Bill Act] is the largest cut in the program’s history. That is also
going to be really deeply felt.” 

 
States have started notifying participants they will be subject to
new, tighter work requirements, setting up a three-month countdown for
people to comply or lose benefits entirely.

Some states, like New York and California, have waivers that lift work
requirements in places with high unemployment rates, which are
expected to slow the full impact. But certain lawfully present
immigrants, including refugees, are being notified that they are no
longer eligible for SNAP, effective immediately.
[[link removed]]

“While we are concerned about any person in this country going
hungry needlessly, there is something spectacularly cruel about
ripping out the safety net of people who came to this country who need
just a little bit of time to get back on their feet and to begin to be
able to contribute economically to this country,” said Naomi
Steinberg, vice president of policy and advocacy at HIAS, a Jewish
nonprofit that assists refugees and asylum seekers.

HIAS estimates that the SNAP changes will cut benefits for roughly
250,000 refugees and other humanitarian visa holders.

Rollins has also indicated that she may press for current SNAP
participants
[[link removed]]
to reapply, despite existing requirements that participants regularly
certify their incomes and other factors that determine eligibility.
The new plan could add red tape that will make it more difficult to
get benefits.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service issued new guidance in October and
November during the shutdown on how to comply with tightened work
requirements and follow other changes in the law, but some states are
still struggling to interpret it. In California, where more than 5
million people use SNAP, California Department of Social Services
Director Jennifer Troia said in a recent webinar
[[link removed]] that the state is still
working through the new guidance.

“This is a priority for us,” Troia said. “We will move toward
compliance with FNS guidance, while also balancing the need for
accuracy and clarity.”

Millions of low-income families will also lose access to Medicaid in
the next few years
[[link removed]],
when stricter work requirements and other changes for that program
kick in. Republicans’ tax and spending law has made certain legal
immigrants, including refugees, ineligible for Affordable Care Act
subsidies
[[link removed]].
And the Trump administration is working on a new public charge
regulation that could deter millions of lawfully present immigrants
from participating in federal safety net programs.

As low-income people struggle to pay utility bills and make rent, many
fall back on the charitable food network to help pay for groceries.
But food banks and pantries are still scrambling to recover from
nearly $1 billion in federal funding cuts
[[link removed]]
earlier this year — and from the chaos resulting from the pause in
SNAP benefits during the shutdown.

During the week of Oct. 27, food banks purchased 325 percent more food
through Feeding America’s Grocery Purchase Program than during the
same time last year, according to the nonprofit.
[[link removed]]

Matt Jozwiak, who runs Rethink Food, a charity meal organization in
New York City, said his organization increased the number of meals it
provided from between 40,000 to 50,000 per week to 120,000 during the
shutdown.

“It could not be worse,” Jozwiak said. “This is just like
what’s to come. This is bad, but [OBBA is] permanent.” 

 
With hundreds of thousands of refugees and other immigrants bracing to
be kicked off SNAP, some refugee resettlement organizations are
offering more emergency food options to help fill the hole.

“We have a truck, we have a warehouse, and it made sense,” said
Laura Thompson Osuri, executive director of Homes Not Borders, a
Washington-area nonprofit that assists newly-arriving refugees. Her
group is now focused on food security.

She says the OBBA changes will affect roughly 20,000 refugees in the
Washington area. [[link removed]]

Still, private-sector and nonprofit contributions won’t be enough
when the SNAP changes go into full effect. According to Feeding
America, SNAP provides nine meals for every one provided by food
banks.
[[link removed]]

Cyndi Kirkhart, who runs Facing Hunger Food Bank in West Virginia, is
worried about her organization’s ability to keep up.

“When I wrote my budget last year for this year, I sure didn’t put
this crisis in it,” Kirkhart said, referencing November’s benefits
lapse. “Now, I’m going to anticipate there’s going to be more
crises, and I’ll just have to budget more and hope that the same
kinds of help and support line up. But at some point, everyone is
affected by crises. So at what point do folks go, ‘I can’t do any
more,’ right?”

_Marcia Brown is a food and agriculture reporter at POLITICO covering
federal agencies and the business of food. _

_Her freelance reporting has appeared in The Washington Monthly, The
New Republic and The Food and Environment Reporting Network. An Ohio
native, she lives in Washington, D.C._

 

* SNAP
[[link removed]]
* hunger
[[link removed]]
* benefits
[[link removed]]
* denial
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]