Since the law dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” by US President Donald Trump took effect in July 2025, at least 4.5 million people in the country have lost their monthly SNAP food benefits, the non-governmental organization Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reported. According to the report's authors, the main reason for this was a change in the “already stringent and ineffective” employment requirements for recipients of payments.
The federal SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) food benefit system allows Americans to receive subsidies to buy food at stores that accept special payment cards. In 2024, the average monthly SNAP benefit per person was $187, and about 42 million people received it. As CNBC noted, 73% of program participants lived below the poverty line (in the United States in 2025, it was about $15,650 per year for a single person and about $32,150 for a family of four).
The last time there was a similar reduction in the number of people receiving SNAP benefits was in 1996, when employment and immigration status requirements were also tightened, CBPP noted. Both then and now, the decline across the country was 11% in relative terms.
Among states from July 2025 to April 2026, Arizona showed the largest decline in the number of residents on SNAP — 55%, and the only state where no reduction was detected was Alaska, the report notes.
In addition to the work requirement, which was expanded to include seniors (up to 65) and parents of minors over 14 in 2025, CBPP also cited new rules for state governments as the reason for the sharp cuts in SNAP.
The feds required them to cover between 5% and 15% of program costs in their jurisdiction each year, with the rate tied to the percentage of erroneous payments. According to the CBPP, which adheres to liberal positions, the situation may worsen in 2027, when these requirements for local authorities fully come into force.
“This trend towards reducing participation [в SNAP] began to occur before some of the major changes included in the Republicans' crippling 2025 budget bill took full effect. We believe that this harm will only grow as states fully embrace the stricter conditions and begin to try to reduce the rate of erroneous application of benefits,” the think tank emphasized.
