New SNAP work requirements go into effect: What to know
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President Trump signs the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Changes to SNAP work requirements outlined in President Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" went into effect Sunday.
Why it matters: The changes mark a historic cut to the social safety net — which experts say could leave more people hungry and uninsured — even as Trump frames the new requirements as a victory for his administration's handling of the affordability crisis.
Driving the news: The new changes went into effect on Sunday.
- They implement new work requirements for older people (now applying to adults up to 65 years old) and homeless people.
Catch up quick: During Trump's State of the Union address last week, the president said his administration "cut a record number of job-killing regulations, and in one year we have lifted 2.4 million Americans, a record, off of food stamps."
- The bill is projected to reduce nutrition funding, which includes SNAP, by around $186 billion between 2025 and 2034.
- The Congressional Budget Office has indicated that more than 2 million people would be cut from SNAP under the work requirement provision.
- Trump administration officials including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote in a New York Times op-ed that "too many able-bodied adults on welfare are not working" and welfare for many "is no longer a lifeline to self-sufficiency but a lifelong trap of dependency."
Yes, but: According to progressive think-tank the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "the vast majority of people who would lose SNAP under an expanded work requirement would lose the assistance they need to afford groceries with no improvement in their job prospects or income."
Here's what to know about the new requirements:
What the new requirements are
Zoom in: Under the new rules, "able-bodied adults without dependents" (ABAWD) must prove that they are working at least 80 hours a month, enrolled at least 50% of the time in an educational program or some combination of the two for a total of 80 hours.
- The OBBA also expands the work requirement for ABAWD up from 18-55 years of age to 18-65.
Flashback: Previously, the work requirement included more exemptions.
- Those included one for parents or adults in households with children.
- Now, parents of children aged 14 or older will also have to meet work requirements.
- Pregnant people and people receiving disability benefits are among those who may still be exempt.
The rules require "homeless individuals, veterans and certain foster care individuals to meet these work requirements," according to the bill's text.
- The law defines foster care individuals as those who are "24 years old or younger and were in foster care on the date of attaining 18 years of age or a higher age."
Yes, but: It adds exemptions for "Indians, also referred to as Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Indigenous Peoples and Tribal Members."
- In areas where it is difficult to obtain a job, the work requirement may be waived.
- States may receive a waiver "based on an area having an unemployment rate of over 10% or an insufficient number of jobs."
What states are advising residents to do
Some states offer programs that help residents meet the new work requirements.
- Oregon, for instance, is connected residents with free employment and training services through a statewide program partnering with local, state, and nonprofit agencies.
- "Many people may already meet the requirement through work, volunteering or other activities they are doing now," the state's Department of Human Services said on Monday.
