WASHINGTON — Major new changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program took effect today, October 1, 2026, shifting a bigger share of the program's costs onto states and tightening rules that have already pushed millions of Americans off food benefits.
Starting today, states must cover 75% of SNAP's administrative costs, up from 50%, under the tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed in July 2025, known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." The federal government's share drops to 25%. The law also cuts roughly $187 billion in federal SNAP spending over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
About 5.2 million Americans have lost SNAP benefits since the law was enacted, according to a recent analysis by the Food Research & Action Center, an anti-hunger advocacy group. Enrollment now stands at its lowest level since 2019. As of May, about 36.6 million Americans were receiving SNAP benefits — a nearly 14% drop in the last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program.
The law expanded work requirements that previously applied to adults ages 18 to 54 without children. Now, adults ages 18 to 64 without a child under 14 must document at least 80 hours a month of work, job training, or volunteering to keep their benefits. Exemptions that previously protected veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young people aging out of foster care were removed. Those who fail to document enough hours can lose benefits after three months.
Starting today, immigrant eligibility restrictions also take effect, removing between 60,000 and 125,000 current recipients who were admitted as refugees or granted asylum, according to estimates cited in coverage of the law.
Anti-hunger advocates say paperwork backlogs and confusion are compounding the cuts. In Massachusetts, about 75% of calls to the state agency that runs SNAP are disconnected before callers reach someone, according to the CEO of the Worcester County Food Bank. Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, called the changes "absolutely unprecedented" and said "there is a lot of chaos going on in SNAP, and it is harming the people the program was designed to serve."
Republican lawmakers have defended the changes as targeting waste, fraud, and abuse, and say the stricter rules encourage work.
The changes come as states also brace for Medicaid funding cuts under the same law. NCN previously reported that more than 5,000 Minnesota immigrants are set to lose Medical Assistance under the new federal rules starting today.
This is a developing story. NCN will continue tracking how the new rules affect Minnesota families.
- National Correspondent Network
