In September, 2.8 million Texans got food assistance through SNAP. That's the fewest since August 2009, according to state data reported by the Texas Tribune. Enrollment fell 20.8% in a single year — the steepest year-over-year drop in two decades.
It isn't because Texans stopped needing help.
"The declines aren't the result of people leaving the program because they no longer need it, or because they found work," said Celia Cole, CEO of the food bank network Feeding Texas. "At the same time that you're seeing this record low enrollment, we're seeing record high need in our communities."
Experts believe the drop stems from Trump's budget bill, which Congress passed last year, the Tribune reported. Seventeen Texas House Republicans on this site voted for it — twice.
Who voted for it
The House passed its version of Trump's budget bill 215 to 214 on May 22, 2025, and the final version on July 3, 2025. Every one of these Texas Republicans voted yes both times:
Beth Van Duyne, August Pfluger, Brandon Gill, Brian Babin, Craig Goldman, Jake Ellzey, John Carter, Keith Self, Lance Gooden, Pat Fallon, Michael Cloud, Monica De La Cruz, Pete Sessions, Ronny Jackson, Randy Weber, Nathaniel Moran and Roger Williams.
On the first vote, the bill passed by one. Any one of them could have stopped it.
What the law did to SNAP
The Tribune laid out the changes:
- Lawful immigrants cut off. Some people are no longer eligible at all, including refugees, and many lawful immigrants lost eligibility.
- Work rules for parents and older Texans. Since 1996, SNAP work requirements applied to able-bodied adults without children who were under 54. The budget bill extended them to some parents and to people up to age 64. Cole said some Texans aged 55 to 64 who'd been out of the workforce for years are struggling to meet the new rules.
- A bill for the state. Starting in the 2028–29 budget, Texas could owe up to $2 billion more if it can't get its error rate from nearly 9% down below 6%.
To cut errors, the state's Health and Human Services Commission says it is giving each case "a thorough review" — and advocacy groups say that push has built a backlog of applications. In September, Texas processed only 64% of SNAP applications on time, down from 91% a year earlier. Federal rules require 95%. Parents told the Tribune they waited months only to learn they'd been turned down.
We've reported on this cost shift before: Republicans voted to dump billions in food stamp costs on states, and Texas's health agency now calls lowering its error rate, to avoid that bill, its top priority.
Kids are taking the biggest hit
Children make up most of Texas's SNAP recipients — 1.4 million of them. And they're more than half of the people who've lost benefits since September 2025.
The number of Texas kids under 5 on SNAP is the lowest in more than 20 years, the Tribune found.
Losing SNAP costs a child more than groceries. Getting SNAP automatically qualifies a child for free school lunch, and it moves them up the waitlist for subsidized child care.
"We don't want kids or seniors going to bed hungry because state workers can't get through the stack of SNAP applications piling up in their office," said Diana Forester of Texans Care for Children.
Rural Texas feels it at the register
SNAP participation is higher in rural areas, so the drop hits there hard. Brookshire Brothers — the only grocery store in many parts of rural East Texas — is seeing significantly less SNAP spending at those stores since the law took effect, the Tribune reported. Food banks across the Feeding Texas network are struggling to keep up and have started limiting how often people can come and what they can take.
Nationally, SNAP enrollment is also at a 17-year low. Republicans have tried to spin the falling numbers as good news — we covered how 4 million Americans lost food stamps and Republicans called it the economy getting better. Texas food banks are seeing the opposite.
What the record shows
SNAP enrollment in Texas fell 20.8% in a year to 2.8 million in September, the lowest since 2009, while food banks report record need. Children are more than half of the Texans who lost benefits, and kids under 5 on SNAP are at a 20-year low. Experts blame Trump's budget bill, which cut off many lawful immigrants, extended work rules to parents and people up to 64, and could stick Texas with up to $2 billion. The 17 Texas House Republicans named here voted for it in May and July 2025 — and the first vote passed by one.
