Trump administration plans to make it harder to get food aid

President Donald Trump’s administration is considering making it harder to get food assistance through the federal government’s massive food assistance program that serves about 1 in 10 Americans.

LEARN MORE: More than 1.2 million children have lost SNAP benefits since last July. Experts explain why

The administration says the proposed rule would close a loophole by no longer allowing some people who receive benefits under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to also automatically qualify for the separate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program.

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About 6.3 million people could lose their SNAP eligibility by fiscal year 2029 if the proposed change takes effect, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program. This is in addition to the 5.5 million people who have already lost their SNAP benefits over the past year.

The plan is outlined in a proposed rule released Tuesday on how to administer SNAP, and the government is seeking public comment through next month. If accepted, the rule would not take full effect for about two years.

The proposal addresses the link between 2 federal programs

These are two separate federal programs. The TANF program provides federal grants to states, which set their own eligibility rules for distributing cash and other benefits to low-income families with children. Beneficiary income varies by program and state.

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Federal guidelines generally limit SNAP food benefits to those earning less than 130 percent of the poverty level, or just over $1,700 a month for an individual or nearly $3,600 for a family of four. To reduce duplicate paperwork, the federal government allows people who already receive TANF benefits to automatically be eligible for SNAP, although they must still apply.

Some states have used this automatic eligibility to extend SNAP benefits to people who might not otherwise qualify. In 2009, President Barack Obama’s administration encouraged states to provide citizens with a minimum TANF-funded benefit, such as an informational brochure or hotline, to qualify them for the food program.

Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have some form of broad categorical eligibility for SNAP, according to a USDA report from last year.

Trump’s team presented a similar plan 7 years ago

The first Trump administration proposed cracking down on such tactics in 2019. But that proposal was withdrawn by President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021.

“Simply put, we didn’t want to cut millions of people, especially the working poor or children, from the program,” said Stacy Dean, a former USDA official under Biden who is now executive director of the Global Food Institute at George Washington University.

The latest proposal is more sweeping and could prevent states from basing SNAP eligibility on TANF-funded benefits, such as job-related counseling or one-time vouchers for vehicle repairs so people can get to work, said David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University who has studied the food assistance program.

“The administration here is essentially proposing to eliminate the flexibility that Congress has given states to serve the working poor,” Super said.

SNAP is also connected to other programs for low-income people

Being part of a household that receives SNAP benefits also makes schoolchildren eligible for free meals. The Agriculture Department says nearly 1.8 million children would lose eligibility if their families lost SNAP — but that 97% of them would still qualify for free or reduced-price school meals through another process.

But the government says some children won’t receive meals, even if they’re eligible, if their families don’t apply.

The proposal comes at a time when the number of people receiving aid has declined sharply — and on the heels of Democrats’ sweeping electoral gains across the country.

“The public has indicated that they want their elected officials to work to make life affordable,” the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning policy research institute, said in an analysis of the proposal. “Yet the Trump administration is doubling down on efforts to make it harder for people to feed their families.”

It was a time of change for the food assistance program

In July, the Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, said 36 million people were receiving the aid. This is a decrease of 13% compared to the previous year. During this period, another federal requirement expanded the work requirement to more enrollees, including those ages 55 to 64 and parents whose youngest children are at least 14 years old.

Trump’s big tax and policy law of 2025, which expands work requirements, also requires states to start paying about three-quarters of the cost of operating it, up from half. And they will also have to pay part of the costs of services if their error rates exceed certain thresholds. Democrats in Congress are pushing to delay implementation of this change.

The Trump administration’s newly proposed rule “is just one of many things that states are currently grappling with that would reduce access to SNAP,” said Carolyn Vega, director of policy analysis for the advocacy group Share Our Strength.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is concerned that the eligibility change could lead to higher error rates for states, forcing them to pay more of the cost of benefits.

Patricia Anderson, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, said that among the administration’s various efforts to cut SNAP, “this one seems the most reasonable” because some people with higher incomes qualify by category.

But she said it’s possible to have a different conversation about whether SNAP eligibility guidelines are too strict.