USDA Seeks To Implement New SNAP Benefits Restrictions

Grocery Store in Miami Beach — Source: Al Drago / Getty

You’d think getting straight belt to ass during last week’s midterms would have the Trump administration rethinking its pursuit of cruel and deeply unpopular policies. Apparently, that’s not the case, as the Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed a rule that would add even more restrictions on who can access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

CBS News reports that the rule would deny people who receive support through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program from receiving SNAP benefits. The rule would deny people SNAP benefits even if they receive non-cash support from TANF by way of childcare assistance or job training. If the rule is passed, SNAP enrollment would be reduced by 17%.

What makes these changes even more egregious is that the Trump administration has already implemented drastic changes to SNAP benefits as part of last year’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” The changes included increased work requirements, lowering the maximum amount of money a person can make to qualify for SNAP, and making states shoulder more of the financial burden.

They implemented these new work requirements and now are punishing people if they receive assistance for job training. Make it make sense, folks.

“Basically, what the administration is doing is continuing on this path of making sure that SNAP is dismantled,” said Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit advocacy group. “The states have so much on their plate that they cannot continue running the program.”

From CBS News:

The latest SNAP reform proposal would restrict what’s known as “broad-based categorical eligibility,” a policy offered by more than 40 states that allows households outside the normal SNAP eligibility income threshold to qualify for food stamps if they receive benefits through TANF.

Plata-Nino noted that the longstanding policy authorized by Congress makes SNAP more accessible and lowers costs for states administering the program.

Under the new rule, which would take effect in 2029, households above SNAP’s income thresholds would not qualify for food stamps if they receive non-cash TANF benefits, such as childcare assistance or job training.

White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster told CBS News that the Trump administration wants to ensure that SNAP serves only “eligible Americans who need it most.”

“Rather than throwing money at a broken system, the Trump Administration will continue to stop fraudsters stealing from these important programs, as well as take effective, cost-saving steps to make life more affordable for all Americans,” she told CBS News in an email.

The Trump administration’s obsession with fraud is rich considering a court found Trump and his sons liable for civil fraud. I’ll tell you right now, I’d much rather my tax dollars go toward ensuring families don’t have to go hungry as opposed to bankrolling government contracts for companies like Lockheed Martin, Anduril, and Palantir.

“Instead of listening to the public sentiment on affordability following the election, the administration is continuing its attacks on vital food assistance and the families who need help to put food on the table,” Ty Jones Cox, vice president for food assistance at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said in a statement.

Food insecurity is already a problem, especially as people are struggling to afford basic necessities like gas and groceries. We’re not exactly in a robust job market, so the Trump administration is effectively kicking some of the nation’s most vulnerable people while they’re already down. And yet somehow, Trump can’t understand how a Blue tsunami swept Congress last week.

USDA Introduces Rule That Would Add More Restrictions On SNAP Benefits was originally published on newsone.com