| Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Food Stamp Cuts Could Deal a Blow to Small Grocers, The New York Times, August 4, 2025
SNAP cuts will have a devastating impact on communities across the country, according to anti-hunger advocates. Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP deputy director at FRAC, said the changes may have broad consequences for local economies. Grocery stores that bring in fewer dollars could be forced to lay off workers, while property tax revenues could also decrease if stores close altogether, Plata-Nino said. Low-Wage Workers Reeling Over Trump’s Looming SNAP Cuts as Food Prices Rise, The Guardian, August 1, 2025
Under the recently passed budget reconciliation package, many states will be forced to pick up the tab for a portion of SNAP benefit costs beginning in fiscal year 2028. “This is a very targeted, well-thought-out plan of dismantling the SNAP program that federal policy makers won’t take responsibility for, because it is the states [and] governors who will have to cut resources for SNAP, who will have to cut the program in order to say, ‘we can’t operate this because of what’s happening at the federal level,’” said FRAC’s SNAP Deputy Director Gina Plata-Nino. “SNAP is a very important ecosystem at the local level, at the state level, and the federal level, because billions of dollars go into states, and this federal money supports local economies. All of these proposals threaten this very delicate balance.” WA Food Banks Brace for Longer Lines Amid SNAP Cuts: ‘It Eats a Piece of My Soul’, The Olympian, August 4, 2025
Advocates in Washington are expecting the recently passed budget reconciliation package to hurt residents in myriad ways, including cuts to SNAP. Roughly 1 million people in Washington use SNAP benefits every month to put food on the table. Food banks in the state are bracing for a dramatic increase in demand, but say it will be a real challenge to make up for the impending drops in federally funded food assistance. “On a human level, it breaks my heart,” said Thurston County Food Bank Executive Director John Ficker. “I can’t believe that we’re in a situation where we’ve made food insecurity worse as opposed to better. It feels like we should be making progress in the other direction.” Kansas Might Pay $80 Million Under SNAP Cuts From Big Beautiful Bill, The Beacon, July 28, 2025
The recently passed budget reconciliation package will shift SNAP benefit costs to many states for the first time in the program’s history. According to Gina Plata-Nino, FRAC’s SNAP deputy director, states will be forced to do more with less. At some point, she continued, states “will have to start making incredibly hard choices between cutting services that are needed for the community […] or continuing this program.” Georgia Officials Say State SNAP System Subject of Cyberattack, WSB-TV (Atlanta, GA), August 1, 2025
The Georgia Department of Human Services has confirmed that a call center handling requests from the state’s SNAP recipients was hit by a cyberattack last Monday. The state agency said the call center’s operations were disrupted by bots trying to access client accounts. SNAP Benefits: New Legislation Would Enhance Access for College Students, SILive.com, July 30, 2025
Reintroduced last Wednesday by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), the Enhance Access to SNAP Act would expand SNAP access to all two- and four-year college students who met traditional SNAP income and eligibility requirements. “Far too many low-income college students are going hungry, all while juggling family, work, and a full course load in pursuit of economic mobility,” said FRAC President Crystal FitzSimons. “Many are parents, caregivers, or older adults returning to school for a better future, but the current system, with its 20-hour per week work requirement, makes this nearly impossible.” Healthy School Meals for All Thousands of Public School Students Will Get Free Meals This School Year Under New Law, Hawaii News Now, August 1, 2025
Under a new state law signed by Gov. Josh Green in May, Hawaii students who qualify for reduced-price school meals will receive free school breakfast and lunch this school year. “This bill is about more than food,” said State Sen. Michelle Kidani, who chairs the Senate Education Committee. “It’s about dignity, equity, and ensuring every child has a fair chance to succeed.” Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (Summer EBT) Summer Food Assistance Rolls Out to New Hampshire Families On Time This Year, New Hampshire Public Radio, August 4, 2025
Over 20,000 New Hampshire households received Summer EBT benefit distributions by the end of July. The federally funded program provides $120 in grocery buying benefits to qualifying families for each eligible child during the summer months. How Chickasaw Nation Implemented Their Inaugural Summer EBT Program, Oklahoma Welcome, July 31, 2025
Food insecurity rates among American Indian/Alaska Native households are more than double the national average. While Oklahoma opted out of Summer EBT in 2024, the Chickasaw Nation, which has operated Summer EBT demonstration projects for 12 years, reached nearly 150,000 students across both their service area and the Muscogee Nation service area during the summer of that year, according to FRAC’s Senior Child Nutrition Policy Analyst Kelsey Boone. FRAC Chat Shifting the Burden: How the Recently Passed Budget Reconciliation Package Reshapes SNAP and Strains State Budgets, July 24, 2025
“Sweeping changes to SNAP under the recently passed budget reconciliation package will force states to make tough choices, even before many provisions officially take effect,” according to FRAC’s SNAP Deputy Director Gina Plata-Nino and Randy Rosso of fooddatanerd.com. |
