Why 4.3 million people no longer receive food stamps
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins this week attributed a multimillion-person drop within the variety of contributors receiving food stamps by means of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to stamp out fraud and an improved economic system.
But specialists low cost these components, saying the first driver of the lower was extra doubtless new laws that modified how this system runs.
Here’s a more in-depth have a look at the information.
ROLLINS: “As of just a couple of days ago, we now have moved 4.3 million Americans off of the food stamp program. A lot of that is fraud. A lot of it is people taking the program that shouldn’t have been. And a lot of it is just a better economy. We’ve had wage growth that has outpaced inflation for the first time since early 2021. This is a really big day. So people don’t need food stamps.”
THE FACTS: SNAP beneficiaries decreased by almost 4.3 million from January 2025 to January 2026, in line with preliminary government data launched by the Agriculture Department. However, specialists say new necessities mandated by a large tax and spending minimize invoice Republicans pushed through Congress final summer season are the first causes.
The invoice is projected to cut $186 billion in federal spending — 20% — from SNAP over 10 years, in line with the Congressional Budget Office.
“What we’ve seen in terms of the data is that the trend in participation declines seems to be related to the program being difficult to access,” mentioned Roger Figueroa, an assistant professor at Cornell University who research food insecurity from a public well being perspective.
The information says fraud is low
Fraud throughout the SNAP is small, in line with specialists — not almost sufficient to account for such a big drop.
In monetary yr 2023, the most recent information that’s obtainable, 41,476 people were disqualified from SNAP for fraud. That consists of people who erroneously reported data in the course of the software course of and people who exchanged advantages for money or different noneligible objects. Out of 42,176,946 complete contributors that is lower than 1%.
“I don’t see any evidence supporting a significant reduction in fraud as a driver of what we’re seeing as far as declining SNAP participation,” mentioned Caitlin Caspi, an affiliate professor on the University of Connecticut who research food insecurity.
Asked for information to help Rollins’ declare about fraud’s relationship to the lower of SNAP beneficiaries, the USDA directed The Associated Press to report from the New York Post and the Foundation for Government Accountability on broad-based categorical eligibility. SNAP candidates in most states could also be eligible for SNAP utilizing this coverage in the event that they qualify for non-cash advantages from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program or comparable state-run efforts.
BBCE has beencriticized for states permitting an excessive amount of flexibility in figuring out who’s eligible for SNAP by eradicating asset maximums, utilizing a better restrict for gross revenue or each. The Trump administration hope to do away with the coverage, however for now it’s a authorized possibility.
Food insecurity persists regardless of financial features
The US economic system typically carried out strongly in 2025 after getting off to a bumpy begin. Gross home product shrank for the primary time in three years in the course of the first quarter, however progress rebounded within the second half of the yr. It slowed within the fourth quarter, however continued to accelerate firstly of 2026, increasing at a modest 2% tempo from January by means of March, rebounding from a report 43-day government shutdown final yr.
But whereas the economic system is robust, food costs are rising. They had been up 3.1% in 2025 and are anticipated to extend 2.9% in 2026. And for a lot of of these going through ongoing monetary hardship, a powerful economic system sometimes would not make a distinction.
“We have a persistent poverty problem in this country,” mentioned Kate Bauer, an affiliate professor of dietary sciences on the University of Michigan. “And we have huge economic disparities. And most people, even in good economic times, are not able to pull their families out of poverty.”
Wage growthat 3.4%, did outpace inflationat 3.3%, in March, though it was not the primary time since 2021, as Rollins claimed. And but in 2025 higher-income Americans benefited greater than lower-income households, which struggled with weaker revenue features and steep costs. Plus, hiring was sluggish and the unemployment fee ticked up.
“We’re not seeing a linear kind of drop-off,” mentioned Caspi. “We are not seeing, if you look at the unemployment rates, things that might be an indicator that a strong economy was driving this change. We don’t see, for example, a pattern of decline in unemployment that would match the pattern of decline in SNAP participation.”
The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ made large adjustments to SNAP
Experts say among the largest drivers within the drop of SNAP contributors had been adjustments made within the 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” often known as HR 1. For instance, it mandated that sure adults who had been beforehand exempt from work necessities at the moment are subject to them.
There are two types of work requirements for eligibility. General guidelines apply to most people age 16-59, however able-bodied adults with out dependents should comply with stricter pointers —- made even stricter by HR 1 —- until they qualify for an exemption. Participants can meet probably the most stringent necessities by working or collaborating in a piece program for no less than 80 hours a month. They don’t should be paid.
Previously, able-bodied adults older than 54 with out dependents had been exempt from the improved necessities. That age has been raised to 64. And the invoice lowered the age of kids whom an individual is accountable for to qualify for an exemption from 18 to 14. Homeless people, veterans and former foster kids 24 or youthful are no longer exempt both.
“Families have lots of really complicated situations and you can’t just tell people, in 10 days or in one month, go find 80 hours a week of work when you don’t have the skills and those jobs aren’t available in your community,” Bauer mentioned.
SNAP eligibility applies solely to US residents and a few lawful immigrants, though teams corresponding to refugees and asylum seekers no longer qualify due to HR 1.
By the numbers
In January 2025, when Trump was sworn in as president for his second time period, there have been roughly 42.83 million SNAP contributors. That quantity dropped almost 10% by January 2026, to about 38.55 million. The majority of the decline occurred within the second half of the yr, after Trump signed HR 1 in July. There was a lower of simply 743,572 people from January 2025 to June 2025 and one in every of about 3.47 million from July 2025 to January 2026.
The Congressional Budget Office predicted that the invoice would trigger such a pointy drop, estimating in an August 2025 report that sure provisions would “reduce participation in SNAP by roughly 2.4 million people in an average month over the 2025-2034 period.”
“It shouldn’t be surprising that we are seeing this decline and it shouldn’t be a leap in logic to think that these declines are attributable to HR 1.,” mentioned Caspi.
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