USAupdated 26m ago3 min read
Trump Administration Proposed Rule Would Cut SNAP Benefits for 6.3 Million Americans
“In Cincinnati, Ohio, some food pantries have seen double or triple the number of families showing up”
“Mr. Mamdani said on Friday that small businesses nationwide would have another 90 days to meet the requirements.”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
6.3 million Americans would lose SNAP benefits under proposed rule. Rule tightens automatic eligibility criteria for SNAP benefits nationwide.
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SNAP cuts strain food aid
The Trump administration moved to cut millions more Americans from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said nearly 18% of SNAP recipients, or about 6.3 million people, would lose benefits under a proposed rule.
The USDA said the change would curb automatic eligibility for SNAP for households receiving cash aid under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, and the proposed rule would make SNAP eligibility more standardized while “preserve benefits for the truly needy,” according to the rule.
The proposed change would also affect other food aid, because the USDA estimated that 1.8 million children would lose eligibility for free school lunch under the proposed rule.
The proposed rule comes after more than 5.5 million people already lost SNAP benefits since President Donald Trump enacted cuts to the program in his July 2025 tax law, bringing enrollment to about 36 million people, according to USDA data.
Democratic Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota called the rule “heartless and cruel,” saying “The proposed rule would make it harder to meet basic needs and roll back efforts to streamline federal programs.”
States and advocates brace
The Columbus Dispatch described how a new federal proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture could tighten eligibility requirements for SNAP, with the USDA estimating roughly 6.3 million people nationwide could lose benefits.
The Columbus Dispatch said Ohio has more than 1.4 million people who receive SNAP benefits, while it reported that it was not yet clear how many would be affected by the change.
The Save My SNAP coalition warned that proposed federal changes could cause some Michigan families to lose food assistance, and it said the proposal would change “categorical eligibility” for people who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Elinor Jordan, a public benefits attorney at the Michigan Poverty Law Program and a co-chair of the Save My SNAP coalition, said, “This is all against a really dire backdrop for SNAP,” and she added, “Over 150,000 Michiganders have already lost SNAP over the past year or so due to federal policy changes.”
Ty Jones Cox, the Save My SNAP coalition vice president, said certain families would lose access to SNAP, including a family of three making $35,000 a year, and Jordan warned the proposal could affect food banks already seeing long lines.
Retail rules and political fight
The New York Times reported that Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York said he had made a deal with President Trump to delay SNAP rules for stores across the U.S., giving bodegas and other retailers more time to increase their stock of fresh meat and vegetables.
The New York Times said the new rules originally took effect on Nov. 4 and required retailers to stock at least seven varieties of food staples in categories including meat, dairy, grains and vegetables, and it said stores that did not comply would lose authorization to accept food stamps and would have to wait six months to reapply.
The New York Times reported that Mamdani said small businesses nationwide would have another 90 days to meet the requirements, and it said he wrote a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins asking for a six-month delay.
BuzzFeed described how food pantries were being stretched after SNAP cuts, and it said a food pantry in Binghamton, New York, had to close one week because it didn’t have sufficient food for its clients.
Marianne Lynch, the executive director of Pennsylvania-based The Open Link, told HuffPost, “There’s more people coming to us and coming to other places rather than trying to maintain SNAP benefits,” as she described a 25% increase in households relying on their food pantry since the cuts took effect.