Trump Administration Proposes Cutting Food Stamps for 6.3 Million People
Trump Administration Proposes Cutting Food Stamps for 6.3 Million People
The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed a rule that would remove about 6.3 million people from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest food aid program, in the latest and largest cut to food stamps since President Donald Trump took office.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture published the proposed rule in the Federal Register on Tuesday, November 10, opening a 30-day public comment period. The change would sharply narrow a long-standing route into the program known as broad-based categorical eligibility, which lets states enroll households in SNAP because they receive benefits under another assistance program. According to the department’s own analysis, included in the proposed rule, nearly 18 percent of SNAP recipients — about 6.3 million people in 3.2 million households — would lose their benefits by fiscal year 2029, when the rule would reach its full effect.
What the Rule Would Change
Under current rules, households that receive cash aid under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, known as TANF, can qualify for SNAP without having to meet the federal income limits. TANF eligibility varies from state to state but is generally set between 130 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty level. SNAP eligibility, by contrast, is generally limited to households at or below 130 percent of the poverty level.
That gap matters. A family earning somewhat more than the federal SNAP limit can still receive food stamps today if its state uses broad-based categorical eligibility and the family qualifies for TANF-related help. The proposed rule would close most of that door. It would limit the TANF route into SNAP to households receiving assistance intended to meet ongoing basic needs, rather than the broader set of services states now count.
The department says 46 of the 53 state and territorial agencies that administer SNAP currently use broad-based categorical eligibility. In practice, the rule would return millions of households to the stricter federal income test — and, in many states, to the federal asset test as well.
The USDA said the change would make SNAP eligibility more standardized across the country and “preserve benefits for the truly needy.” A department spokesperson told Politico that broad-based categorical eligibility “has bloated the welfare rolls for decades.”
The Scale of the Cut
The numbers in the department’s own analysis are stark. The proposal would remove about 6.3 million people from the program by fiscal 2029, and the USDA estimates it would cut federal SNAP benefit spending by about $44.6 billion over fiscal years 2027 through 2031.
The effects would reach beyond the adults who lose benefits directly. Because enrollment in SNAP also confers eligibility for other food aid programs, the USDA estimates that 1.8 million children would lose eligibility for free school lunch under the proposed rule. Children in SNAP households are automatically certified for free school meals, so a parent losing food stamps can mean a child losing lunch at school as well.
The proposal arrives after the program has already shrunk sharply. More than 5.5 million people have lost SNAP benefits since Trump signed the July 2025 tax law, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut the program and imposed new work requirements. Enrollment now stands at about 36 million people, according to USDA data. Reuters reported that part of the decline reflects states struggling to put the law’s administrative changes into practice and to absorb significant new costs the law pushed onto them.
Why This Matters
For the households affected, the stakes are immediate and concrete. SNAP is the country’s main defense against hunger, and the average benefit covers only part of a family’s grocery bill. Losing it means stretching the same income across food, rent, utilities and medicine — at a moment when food prices rose 0.5% in October alone, according to the government’s latest inflation report.
The timing also matters for schools. Districts use SNAP enrollment to identify children who qualify for free meals, and a sudden drop in enrollment would force schools to re-certify millions of children through paperwork instead — a slower, less reliable process that has historically left eligible children out.
State agencies would face a heavier workload, too. They would have to apply the stricter federal tests to millions of households, verify income and assets they currently do not have to check, and handle appeals from families who lose benefits. The administration’s July 2025 law already shifted more of the program’s administrative costs onto states, and state officials have warned that the new requirements are straining their systems.
Supporters of the change argue that categorical eligibility lets people with incomes well above the poverty line onto the rolls and that the program should be reserved for the poorest households. Critics reply that the families affected are mostly working households with modest incomes just above the federal line, and that the savings come at the cost of food on the table.
Background: A Long-Running Fight Over Eligibility
Broad-based categorical eligibility has been a target of Republican policymakers for years. Ending it was a goal of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy blueprint, and Republican administrations have tried to restrict it before. The first Trump administration proposed a similar rule in 2019, estimating then that about 3 million people would lose benefits; that effort was withdrawn after the change of administration.
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The current proposal goes further than the 2019 attempt, both in the number of people affected and in the dollar savings claimed. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which supports the program, had estimated before seeing the rule that eliminating the flexibility could cost roughly 6 million people their benefits — a figure close to the USDA’s own estimate of 6.3 million.
The proposal also fits a broader pattern. The July 2025 tax law expanded work requirements to more adults, restricted eligibility for certain immigrant groups, and cut the federal share of administrative costs from 50 percent to 25 percent starting in fiscal year 2027. The new rule is the administration’s next step in reshaping a program that has long been one of the federal government’s largest anti-poverty tools.
Reaction
Democrats condemned the proposal quickly. Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, called the rule “heartless and cruel” in a statement, saying it “would make it harder to meet basic needs and roll back efforts to streamline federal programs.”
Representative Jahana Hayes of Connecticut also criticized the proposal, warning that it would strip food assistance from families who qualify through TANF or similar state programs. Anti-hunger advocates pointed out that the USDA’s own analysis, not an outside estimate, produced the 6.3 million figure.
The administration has defended the change as a return to the program’s original purpose. In the proposed rule, the department said standardizing eligibility would protect the program for households in the greatest need — a position its supporters echo in describing categorical eligibility as a loophole that states have used to expand the rolls beyond what Congress intended.
Latest Developments
The rule does not change anyone’s eligibility yet. Publication in the Federal Register on Tuesday started a 30-day comment period, and written comments are due by December 10 under docket number FNA-2026-0661. The department must review the comments before issuing a final rule, and any final version could still face legal challenges, as similar benefit rules have in the past.
The calendar gives the proposal a political edge. Democrats, who won control of Congress in the midterm elections, take office on January 3, 2027, and the rule’s fate is likely to become part of the broader fight over the tax law’s benefit cuts. The administration, for its part, has shown no sign of slowing its overhaul of the program: the work requirements and eligibility restrictions from the July law are already being enforced, and states are still working through the administrative changes.
For the 36 million people still on SNAP, the message of the last sixteen months is consistent: the program is getting smaller, the rules are getting stricter, and the next cut is already on the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is broad-based categorical eligibility?
Broad-based categorical eligibility lets states enroll households in SNAP because they receive benefits under TANF or a related state program, without requiring the household to meet the federal SNAP income limit of 130 percent of the poverty level. It also lets states waive the federal asset test. Forty-six of the 53 state and territorial agencies that run SNAP use it.
Will anyone lose food stamps immediately?
No. The proposal published on Tuesday is not a final rule. It opens a 30-day comment period, with comments due December 10, and the USDA must review them before finalizing anything. The department’s analysis says the full effect — 6.3 million people losing benefits — would arrive by fiscal year 2029.
Why would children lose free school lunch?
Children in SNAP households are automatically eligible for free school meals, a process called direct certification. If a household loses SNAP, the child loses that automatic eligibility, and the family must apply separately for school meals. The USDA estimates 1.8 million children would lose free lunch eligibility under the rule.
How many people have already lost SNAP benefits?
More than 5.5 million people have lost SNAP benefits since the July 2025 tax law took effect, according to USDA data cited by Reuters, bringing enrollment to about 36 million people. The new proposal would remove a further 6.3 million by fiscal 2029 if it takes effect as written.
Sources
- Reuters (via SRN News), “Trump administration moves to cut food stamps for 6.3 million people,” November 10, 2026 — https://srnnews.com/trump-administration-moves-to-cut-food-stamps-for-6-3-million-people/
- The Independent, “Trump administration proposes limiting SNAP access,” November 10, 2026 — https://mfc.mn/194593/
- The American Quorum, “USDA Proposal Could End SNAP Benefits for 6.3 Million People,” November 10, 2026 — https://www.theamericanquorum.com/usda-proposal-could-end-snap-benefits-for-6-3-million-people/
