With close to $300 billion in federal funding scheduled to be slashed from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next ten years, it's an open question of how many of the 40 million people who depend on the service may find it no longer meeting their needs.
That's not the only change to be aware of. On August 4, 2025, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins signed waivers that will allow six states to ban SNAP recipients from purchasing certain items, such as soda, energy drinks, or "junk food." This doubles the number of states with such waivers. Most of the proposed bans will go into effect during the first half of 2026.
There's more. New federal rules for SNAP recipients will shift hundreds of millions in administrative costs to state governments, raise the required work age by 10 years, and supply the federal government with private information on program users. A coalition of attorneys general has banded together to fight the demand for personal data.
Helping Those Who Need It the Most
The first food stamp program (FSP) began in 1939 to help struggling Americans through the Great Depression. The Food Stamp Act of 1964 made the program permanent, and it continued to grow to try to keep up with the ever-increasing number of people requiring assistance with putting food on their tables. This included the Food Stamp Act Amendment of 1970, which established uniform national standards of eligibility and work registration requirements. By 1994, over 24 million Americans were receiving aid through the FSP.
The 2008 Farm Bill changed the program's name to SNAP. States received federal grants to administer benefits. Currently, there are 40 million SNAP recipients. This means that about one out of every eight Americans, including one out of five children, receives some amount of aid through SNAP. Recipients include low-income families, older adults, veterans, and people living with disabilities, all of whom receive benefits through an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card.
There were already federal restrictions in place for SNAP purchases before the recently granted state waivers. Approved purchases include:
- Meat, poultry, and fish
- Dairy products
- Vegetables and fruits
- Breads and cereals
- Other foods, such as snack foods and non-alcoholic beverages
- Seeds and plants, which produce food for the household to eat
Items forbidden to be purchased with SNAP funds include alcohol, tobacco, cannabis products, non-food items, and foods that are hot at the point of sale, such as pizza or fast food.
Most SNAP recipients must reapply for the program every six to 12 months. In 2025, the average amount received by a SNAP participant is $6.16 per day.
Let Them Eat Cake (Cake Not Available in Florida)
New federal SNAP rules include raising the age limit for required work (20 hours per week) from 54 to 64. It also requires parents with children between the ages of 14 and 17 to work at least 80 hours per month to receive SNAP benefits. Work requirements have been a much-debated issue since the expiration of the Farm Bill in 2023. Proponents argue that work requirements encourage employment. Critics cite studies that show work requirements don't improve employment rates and simply shut out participation in the program.
Of the twelve states that currently have waivers, most have focused on banning the use of SNAP to purchase candy or sweetened drinks, such as soda or sugary energy drinks. Florida has also banned processed desserts, and Iowa will restrict SNAP purchases to non-taxable foods only.
Department of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. indicated his support for the waivers, which would work in tandem with his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. This was shortly before he announced the cancellation of close to $500 million in funding for further research on mRNA vaccines, which have saved millions of lives.
As for the requirement of supplying personal information taken from Social Security data, almost two dozen state attorneys general filed suit against the Trump administration's demands on July 28, 2025.
Related Resources
- Can You Sue Government Officials? (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
- The Fourteenth Amendment's Public Debt Clause (FindLaw's Fourteenth Amendment)
- State Directory: Public Assistance and Welfare Information (FindLaw's Family Law)
