On November 10, 2026, one week after Republicans lost big in the midterms, the Trump administration published a new rule to take food stamps away from millions more Americans.
This isn't a guess from critics. It's the administration's own math. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs SNAP, says in the rule that 3.2 million households with 6.3 million people would lose their food benefits once it fully kicks in. That is about one out of every six families on the program.
What the rule does
For decades, states have had a simple shortcut. If a family already gets help from certain other programs for low-income people, the state can treat them as eligible for SNAP too. The official name is "broad-based categorical eligibility." About 45 states use it, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The shortcut does two things that matter to real people:
- It lets a family earning a bit over the federal income line keep help with groceries. That line is about $35,500 a year for a family of three. Plenty of families above it still spend almost everything on rent and child care.
- It lets families, seniors and people with disabilities keep a little savings without losing their food help. Without it, the federal savings limit kicks in, and that limit is very low.
The new rule shuts the shortcut almost all the way. Only families who get cash welfare payments would still qualify that way.
Who gets cut
The rule itself spells out who is caught. USDA counts 2.5 million households with 5.4 million people who were on SNAP in 2024 and had savings above the federal limit. Another 1.2 million households with 2.0 million people earned more than the federal income limit. Those are the families this rule is aimed at.
In other words, many of the people losing help are not cheating anyone. They are working families who earn a little too much on paper and seniors who managed to put something aside.
USDA admits the rule has the potential to hit households with children and households with elderly members. It says it can soften that by putting guidance on its website and "encouraging" states to reach out.
Kids lose more than SNAP:
- 1.78 million children would no longer get free school meals automatically. USDA says most of them could still qualify by filling out separate paperwork.
- 93,000 children would move from free to reduced-price school meals, and 28,000 would pay full price.
- About 42,000 children could lose summer grocery benefits starting in 2029.
- About 5,500 women, infants and children would lose WIC, the nutrition program for moms and babies.
How much they're taking
USDA estimates the rule would cut $44.6 billion in food benefits over five years, from 2027 through 2031. Reading the administration's estimates, CBPP puts it at roughly $15 billion a year once it's fully in place. CBPP says that's more than a 15 percent cut, piled on top of the cuts already in Trump's budget bill.
This comes on top of the budget bill
Trump's budget bill already made the deepest cuts to SNAP in history. According to CBPP, 5.5 million fewer people were getting SNAP as of July 2026 than a year earlier. We've written about what those cuts look like for one family.
The budget bill also makes most states pay part of the cost of SNAP benefits for the first time. That share will be 5 to 15 percent, based on each state's error rate. We covered how that pushes states to cut more. CBPP warns the new rule adds paperwork for states and undercuts their efforts to lower those error rates.
And the same day, the administration put out a second rule enforcing the budget bill's bigger SNAP work requirement. CBPP says the two rules together set a trap. People have to prove they are working to keep their food help. But if they earn more, the stricter income limit can cut them off. For some families, the food benefits they lose would be worth more than the raise they got.
They tried this before
This is the second time. During his first term, Trump's USDA proposed a similar rule in July 2019. It was withdrawn in 2021, under President Biden, after the public weighed in. CBPP says the administration has now "resurrected" it.
The timing is the point. "In the midterm elections, the public indicated they want their elected officials to focus on making life affordable," CBPP's Ty Jones Cox said. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, a Democrat, called the new rule "heartless and cruel."
You can comment
The rule is only a proposal so far. The public has until December 10, 2026 to comment on it. Last time, the comments helped stop it.
The bottom line
On November 10, 2026, the Trump administration proposed ending SNAP for 3.2 million households with 6.3 million people, by its own estimate. That's $44.6 billion in food help gone over five years, on top of a budget bill that has already left 5.5 million fewer people getting SNAP. Many of the people cut would be working families just over the income line and seniors with modest savings, and 1.78 million children would lose automatic free school meals.
