Over 1 Million Children in US Lose Food Benefits After Trump-Backed Bill Passed
A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that more than 1 million children across 19 states have lost access to SNAP food benefits since the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was approved in July 2025.
More than a million children across the United States have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since Congress approved the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
The analysis found that over 4 million Americans were removed from SNAP from July 2025 to March 2026, marking a significant decline in participation in the federal food assistance program.
Arizona recorded the largest drop in enrollment after the law took effect. The legislation tightened eligibility rules for food assistance and increased state screening requirements. State data through May shows that more than 450,000 Arizonans have left SNAP, cutting overall participation in the state by half.
According to the CBPP analysis, children make up a substantial portion of those losing benefits, with over 1 million children across the 19 states studied no longer receiving SNAP assistance. In Louisiana, nearly one in four children on SNAP lost benefits. Massachusetts and Texas each saw close to one-fifth of enrolled children removed from the program.
The report comes as participation in the program continues to fall nationwide following major reductions to federal food assistance under the Trump administration. SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, provides monthly benefits to low-income and no-income households to help pay for groceries and remains the country's largest food assistance program.
The report attributes the steep decline largely to the 2025 Republican reconciliation law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which shifted a substantial share of SNAP benefit costs to states based on their payment error rates.
The CBPP warned that the situation would continue to worsen unless Congress intervenes. "Without immediate congressional action to delay this cost shift for all states, the unfolding emergency will only worsen as more children are cut off from the food assistance their families need to afford nutritious food," the CBPP said.
Representative Ilhan Omar, a progressive Democrat from Minnesota, highlighted the outcomes during a speech on the House floor earlier this month. Omar had introduced an amendment aimed at reversing the SNAP cuts, but the Republican majority rejected the proposal.
The latest figures also prompted action from the US Conference of Mayors. On Monday, the nonpartisan organization representing cities with populations of at least 30,000 sent a letter to the Senate signed by over 200 mayors, calling for lawmakers to reverse the SNAP cuts amid the US's "deepening food security crisis."
"SNAP remains the nation's most effective and efficient anti-hunger program. It reduces poverty, supports local economies, and provides an automatic stabilizer during economic downturns," the letter said. "Hunger is not a partisan issue, and efforts to address food insecurity should rise above political divisions."
