Food Aid Enrollment Tanks After SNAP Rule Changes

After President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act more than a year ago, enrollment in the federal food assistance program dropped rapidly across the nation as states enforced new restrictions and prepared to take on more of the costs. Nationally, an estimated 5 million, or 13%, fewer people were enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps, this June than in July 2025, when the law was enacted. Louisiana saw one of the most precipitous declines, dropping about 170,000 people, or 21% of state enrollees, according to federal data. “We haven’t seen a decline of this magnitude in about three decades,” said Joseph Llobrera, senior director of research on food assistance at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which did the analysis. Meanwhile, food prices rose nearly 3% from August 2025 to this August, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Elected officials, policy analysts, and anti-hunger advocates are pressing Congress to delay provisions in the law that will cut federal funding for food benefits and steeply increase the cost for states. They want to insert the delay in the Farm Bill, whic...