How New Work Rules Could Affect Food Stamp Benefits Across the U.S.

Millions of Americans could lose some or all of their food stamp benefits (also known as SNAP) because of newly approved work requirements, according to a study by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
 

Why This Is Important

SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, helps over 40 million people with low or no income buy groceries.

New rules passed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) mean that more people will have to work, volunteer, or participate in training for at least 20 hours per week to keep getting SNAP benefits.

These new rules put millions of current SNAP recipients at risk of losing their benefits, especially those who were previously not required to meet these conditions.
 

Who Is Most At Risk?

The CBPP report says over 5 million people might lose some or all of their SNAP benefits due to the new requirements.

Big states with many people on SNAP—like California, New York, Texas, and Florida—will likely see the most people affected. In those states alone, about 1.2 million people could be at risk.

Here are some state examples from the CBPP report:
 

• California: 368,000 people (about 7% of recipients)
• Florida: 253,000 people (about 8% of recipients)
• Texas: 276,000 people (about 9% of recipients)
• New York: 318,000 people (almost 11% of recipients)
• Illinois: 205,000 people (about 11% of recipients)

Across all states, between 5% and 12% of people who currently get SNAP could be affected. In total, 26 states have more than 8% of their SNAP population at risk.
 

What Are The New Requirements?

The new rules expand which people have to work or volunteer to keep their benefits. Now, adults ages 55 to 64 who do not have dependent children, as well as parents with children aged 14 and older, must work, volunteer, or do training for at least 20 hours a week.

Before, these rules only applied to people younger than 55. Now, even veterans, people facing homelessness, and former foster youth may have to meet the work requirement.

Parents of teenagers will also need to meet these rules, but children will still get benefits even if their parents lose theirs.

Additionally, it will be harder for states to get exceptions to these rules (called waivers). Waivers will only be granted in places where unemployment is higher than 10%.
 

What Different Groups Are Saying

Some groups support these new requirements. The Foundation for Government Accountability believes that more work requirements are needed to help people become less dependent on government assistance and to fill millions of available jobs.

On the other hand, CBPP says these changes could hurt over 5 million people, including 800,000 children. They believe these stricter requirements could make it harder for families to get food assistance.
 

What Happens Next?

The exact start date for the new rules is still unclear, as it was not included in the OBBBA.

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