By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WZMQ 19 News) — Big changes are coming to the country’s largest food assistance program.
A new law signed just last Friday, could leave millions of Americans with less help putting food on the table. It’s being called the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” by President Donald Trump — but critics say it could deliver one of the biggest gut punches to America’s safety net in decades.
“We don’t know when those cuts are going to take effect, but when they do, they will be devastating,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
“Largest cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP in history,” said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative. “Fewer people are going to get benefits, the benefits they need to feed themselves and their family.”
The sweeping legislation, signed into law Friday, curbs spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by $186 billion through 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
That’s nearly a 20% cut, which is estimated to result in more than 22 million families losing some or all of their benefits. Jacquez says the average estimate on benefit cuts amounts to $146 per month.
“That’s a pretty significant trim from a grocery budget, particularly for a family of one, two, three or four,” he said.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, nearly 800,000 Michiganders are at risk of losing some portion of SNAP benefits.
“Those cuts will result in a lot of people going hungry,” said Gillibrand. “SNAP is used by our seniors, our veterans, our children, pregnant women, a lot of people who are in deep need of nutrition.”
The new law tightens SNAP work requirements, too.
“The way that this bill changes work requirements is by subjecting beneficiaries, 55 to 64 — so everyone now up to 64 years old, right before retirement age — is going to be subject to work requirements. And if you have children who are ages 14 to 17, so teenage children, you will also be subject to work requirements,” said Jacquez.
Additionally, beginning in 2027, states with payment error rates above 6% will be penalized — forced to pay between 5% and 15% of the benefit costs themselves. In 2024, the average payment error rate was nearly 11%, according to the USDA.
“States will have an opportunity to be able to clean up its methodology that it uses,” said Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, (R-Pa.). “Under 6% would have a zero-cost share.”
We asked Thompson, the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee — when can we expect some of the new changes to take effect?
“I think some of them will be immediate. Obviously, the state share, there’s going to be a two year period of implementation,” Thompson said.
According to a White House fact sheet, the new law “restores SNAP to serve the truly needy.” But critics say the real cost isn’t in the budget — it’s at the kitchen table.
“It means that people who are looking for work but can’t fill out the paperwork in time are going to get kicked off the program. It means states are going to have to dip into their own funds to cover SNAP benefits that the federal government used to cover. It means there’s going to be stress particularly on rural grocery stores and food banks who are going to have to step up to alleviate some of the losses,” said Jacquez.
