Bad News: More Than 700,000 Children Are Not Receiving SNAP Food Assistance Due to New Federal Law

Hundreds of thousands of children have lost access to SNAP food assistance since HR 1 went into effect.

Reports from several states show a sharp decline in children’s participation in the program, which could also affect other benefits aimed at low-income families.

• Why it matters: SNAP is the country’s main food assistance tool. When children lose access to the program, other benefits related to nutrition, health, and education may also be at risk.

Children Losing SNAP Benefits: Food Program Records a Sharp Drop

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in the 12 states that publish detailed data by age, more than 700,000 children stopped receiving SNAP benefits after the approval of Republican law HR 1.

• The decline is part of a broader reduction of 1.6 million beneficiaries of all ages in those states. Minors account for almost half of that drop.
• For its part, a ProPublica analysis found similar figures. Of the 1,670,011 people who stopped receiving food assistance in the states analyzed, 776,134 were children, equivalent to 46% of the total.

The data contradicts arguments from some Republican lawmakers who supported the law and claimed the changes would not affect the most vulnerable populations.

Changes in the Law Make It Harder to Access SNAP Benefits

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, part of the decline could be related to the transfer of a larger share of SNAP program costs to the states.

The redistribution of financial responsibilities has led some state governments to adopt measures that make access to the program more difficult for eligible people, including families with children.

The report notes that the changes introduced by the law have coincided with a significant reduction in program participation, even in places where economic conditions do not show enough improvement to justify such a sharp decline.

Arizona Has One of the Largest Losses of Beneficiaries

No state reflects this trend better than Arizona.

• According to data cited by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, SNAP participation fell 52% through April, representing more than 470,000 fewer people in the program.
• Among them are more than 200,000 children who stopped receiving food assistance.

The report also highlights that Arizona’s unemployment rate increased after the enactment of HR 1, suggesting that the reduction in beneficiaries is not necessarily due to an improved labor market.

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Losing SNAP Affects Other Benefits for Children

The consequences go beyond help buying food.

Children who lose SNAP also lose simplified access to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC. They also no longer automatically qualify for free school meals.

The cuts could also affect schools that participate in the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows certain schools to offer free meals to all students.

A study cited in the analysis estimates that every dollar invested in SNAP for children generates a return of $62 for society over the beneficiaries’ lifetime, thanks to better educational outcomes, higher earnings in adulthood, better health, and a greater tax contribution.

What’s next: Experts and child nutrition advocates warn that the loss of access to SNAP could have lasting effects on hundreds of thousands of children and on other programs that rely on this assistance to identify and support low-income families.