Food Programs — News & Analysis

More than 770,000 children lose SNAP benefits after Trump policy bill (June 17, 2026)

June 17, 2026 — A ProPublica analysis found that the number of children receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits has dropped by at least 776,134 across 12 states that report participation by age — accounting for 46% of the 1,670,011 total people who lost benefits in those states since changes to the program took effect under President Trump's domestic policy bill.

A separate analysis by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities independently found roughly 700,000 fewer children receiving food assistance nationwide. Arizona saw the steepest decline, with 205,223 children losing benefits since July 2025 — a 55% drop — while Louisiana posted the second-largest decline among children at 22%. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 4.3 million fewer people receiving SNAP nationwide in February 2026 compared to a year earlier, leaving 37.8 million participants.

During debate over the bill, Republican backers including Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, Rep. John Rose, and Rep. Dusty Johnson repeatedly insisted children, pregnant women, and disabled recipients would be unaffected by the reforms. Policy analysts now describe children as "collateral damage" of new work requirements and increased paperwork burdens, with states facing rising administrative cost-shares — 75% of administrative costs beginning in October, plus a share of benefit costs tied to error rates starting in October 2027 — that are straining state agencies' ability to process applications. In Massachusetts, the share of SNAP applicants unable to reach a caseworker by phone rose from 61% in November to nearly 81% in March. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins disputed the 700,000 figure, calling it incorrect and asserting most people removed from SNAP were "fraudulent" — a claim ProPublica notes is at odds with its independent verification of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' numbers.