'Heartless and Cruel': Trump Administration Moves To Strip SNAP Food Benefits From 6 Million People

The Trump administration has proposed restricting SNAP food benefits for about 6.3 million people, including many children, according to its own analysis. The US Department of Agriculture published the proposed rule in the Federal Register on Tuesday, with the full effect projected for fiscal year 2029.

The proposal targets broad-based categorical eligibility, or BBCE, which allows states to deem recipients of other federal benefits eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The policy streamlines applications and reduces administrative burdens for states and individuals, according to experts cited by Common Dreams.

Trump Administration Targets SNAP Eligibility

Under the proposed rule, households that currently qualify for SNAP through broad-based categorical eligibility could lose benefits if they do not meet the programme's standard income and resource requirements, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The liberal think tank put the standard gross-income threshold at roughly $35,500 (£26,739) a year for a family of three.

The administration's analysis projects that 3.2 million households would lose benefits in fiscal year 2029, the first year the proposed rule would take full effect. USDA opened a public-comment period of 30 days.

Ty Jones Cox, CBPP's vice president for food assistance, criticised the proposal in the context of affordability concerns following the midterm elections.

'In the midterm elections, the public indicated they want their elected officials to focus on making life affordable. Yet the Trump administration is doubling down on making it harder for people to feed their families, after already enacting the deepest cuts to SNAP in history,' Cox stated.

SNAP Food Benefits and School Meals

The Food Research & Action Center warned in a statement Tuesday that the impact 'could be far worse' than the administration's projection, citing the continuing effects of SNAP cuts enacted under the 2025 Trump-GOP budget law.

An estimated 5.5 million people, including roughly 1.5 million children, have lost SNAP benefits since that law's enactment, according to Common Dreams, which cited CBPP's tracking of benefit losses.

FRAC warned that children losing SNAP would no longer automatically qualify for free school meals. Some could lose eligibility, while others could fall through gaps when completing school-meal applications.

The group also highlighted implications for babies, toddlers and pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding parents whose SNAP participation makes them automatically income-eligible for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

Losing SNAP would make applying for WIC more difficult, FRAC stated. It warned that losing both programmes would harm hundreds of thousands of infants and young children during their initial stages of development.

Trump Administration Faces SNAP Opposition

Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint released by the Heritage Foundation, called for reforming broad-based categorical eligibility.

Representative Angie Craig, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, condemned the USDA proposal as 'heartless and cruel'. She warned it would make it harder for families 'to meet basic needs' and undermine states' efforts to 'streamline federal programmes'.

'SNAP is a highly effective and efficient program when it is allowed to work as designed,' Craig stated.

'Unfortunately, the Trump administration and the outgoing Republican majority in Congress have undermined the program's integrity at every turn, harming millions of vulnerable Americans in the process.'