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January 13, 2026
Major Changes Coming to SNAP in 2026
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps) is an important safety-net program that helps reduce hunger and decrease poverty among US households. At the same time, SNAP has significant flaws that make it inefficient, less effective than it could be, and in some cases harmful to upward mobility. However, recent actions by…
November 20, 2025
When help holds families back
One of the central contradictions in American politics today is that, despite decades of measurable progress for low-income families – marked by declining poverty rates, rising household incomes, and greater levels of consumption – many families continue to feel as though they are falling behind. Child poverty rates have dropped to near historic lows, and…
October 29, 2025
Who Is at Risk of Losing Snap Benefits Due to the Shutdown?
Unless the Senate passes legislation that reopens the federal government within the next few days (or the courts intervene), 22 million households containing 42 million individuals (approximately 12 percent of the US population) will not receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly called food stamps) starting November 1st. For background, SNAP provides nearly $8 billion per month in…
September 23, 2025
End Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility in SNAP and Address Benefit Cliffs
Abstract Broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is an administrative function with broad implications for SNAP caseloads and expenditures. Though Congress originally established BBCE as a way to lower administrative burden and increase program efficiency, states have used it in recent decades to expand SNAP eligibility beyond statutory income eligibility…
September 9, 2025
SNAP Prioritizes Nutrition in New Administration
As of last month, twelve states had received federal waivers allowing them to restrict the purchase of certain foods under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) based on limited nutritional value. These restrictions, set to take effect in 2026, will prohibit participants from using SNAP benefits to buy items such as soda, candy, and other sugary…
September 3, 2025
The Shifting Composition Of SNAP Households
An underappreciated trend in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—formerly the Food Stamp Program—over the past two decades is the shift in participation toward childless households, particularly single-person households without children. In FY 2023 (the most recent year of data), almost two-thirds of SNAP households were childless, and 60% were single-person households. This represents a…