Millions of Americans greeted the end of the record-setting 43-day government shutdown and the resumption of food stamp benefits with relief, but others are learning they could soon lose federal food aid permanently under a new Republican tax and spending law.Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins directed USDA staff during the shutdown to press states towards compliance with the law, which is projected to remove millions from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the coming months, Politico reported.These changes, combined with other provisions, represent the most significant cuts to the social safety net in decades and come as low-income families face stagnating wages that are failing to keep pace with soaring living costs—an issue some Republicans blamed for their losses in off-year elections this month.The SNAP programme provides an average of $6 per day for nearly 42 million people, roughly 40 percent of whom are children. Under the new law, parents and older Americans will be subject to stricter work requirements, and states will eventually share in the cost of benefits, a change that could force further cuts, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Tens of thousands of legal immigrants will also lose access to the programme.The loss of SNAP “was really stark during the shutdown,” said Dottie Rosenbaum, director of federal SNAP policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “But [the One Big Beautiful Bill Act] is the largest cut in the programme’s history. That is also going to be really deeply felt.”States have begun notifying participants that they will face tighter work requirements, setting up a three-month countdown to comply or lose benefits entirely. Some states, such as New York and California, hold waivers that lift work requirements in areas with high unemployment rates, which are expected to slow the full impact. Yet certain lawfully present immigrants, including refugees, have been told they are immediately ineligible for SNAP.“While we are concerned about any person in this country going hungry needlessly, there is something spectacularly cruel about ripping out the safety net of people who came to this country who need just a little bit of time to get back on their feet and to begin to be able to contribute economically to this country,” said Naomi Steinberg, vice president of policy and advocacy at HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit that assists refugees and asylum seekers.HIAS estimates that the SNAP changes will cut benefits for roughly 250,000 refugees and other humanitarian visa holders.Rollins has indicated that she may press for current SNAP participants to reapply, despite existing certification requirements for income and other eligibility factors. The new plan could add red tape that makes it more difficult to obtain benefits.USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service issued new guidance in October and November during the shutdown on how to comply with tightened work requirements and other changes in the law, but some states are still struggling to interpret it. In California, where more than 5 million people use SNAP, California Department of Social Services Director Jennifer Troia said in a recent webinar, “This is a priority for us. We will move toward compliance with FNS guidance, while also balancing the need for accuracy and clarity.”Millions of low-income families will also lose access to Medicaid in the next few years when stricter work requirements and other changes for that programme take effect. The Republican tax and spending law has made certain legal immigrants, including refugees, ineligible for Affordable Care Act subsidies. The Trump administration is also developing a new public charge regulation that could deter millions of lawfully present immigrants from using federal safety net programmes.As low-income people struggle to pay utility bills and rent, many rely on the charitable food network. Food banks and pantries are still scrambling to recover from nearly Rs 8,300 crore in federal funding cuts earlier this year and from the chaos caused by the pause in SNAP benefits during the shutdown.During the week of Oct. 27, food banks purchased 325 percent more food through Feeding America’s Grocery Purchase Program than in the same period last year, according to the nonprofit.“It could not be worse,” said Matt Jozwiak, who runs Rethink Food, a charity meal organisation in New York City. “This is just like what’s to come. This is bad, but [OBBA is] permanent.”With hundreds of thousands of refugees and other immigrants facing SNAP cuts, some refugee resettlement organisations are offering emergency food options. “We have a truck, we have a warehouse, and it made sense,” said Laura Thompson Osuri, executive director of Homes Not Borders, a Washington-area nonprofit that assists newly arriving refugees. Her group estimates the OBBA changes will affect roughly 20,000 refugees in the Washington area.Still, private-sector and nonprofit contributions will not suffice when SNAP changes take full effect. According to Feeding America, SNAP provides nine meals for every one provided by food banks.“When I wrote my budget last year for this year, I sure didn’t put this crisis in it,” said Cyndi Kirkhart, who runs Facing Hunger Food Bank in West Virginia, referencing November’s benefits lapse. “Now, I’m going to anticipate there’s going to be more crises, and I’ll just have to budget more and hope that the same kinds of help and support line up. But at some point, everyone is affected by crises. So at what point do folks go, ‘I can’t do any more,’ right?”
