More SNAP cuts on the horizon under USDA’s latest proposal

The Trump administration moved on Tuesday to cut millions of Americans from the nation’s largest food assistance program even after voters signaled grocery costs were a major concern during the midterm elections.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a proposed rule that would end provisions that automatically make households eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) if they also meet requirements for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

According to an analysis posted by the USDA, the proposed changes would cut SNAP benefits by more than $45 billion over five years and remove about 17% of SNAP beneficiaries from the program — or 6.3 million people — beginning in 2029, the first year the rule takes full effect. 

Under the rule, about 1.8 million children would no longer be automatically eligible for free school meals, and 5,500 households would lose access to TANF, the agency estimated.

In addition, the agency estimates that about 42,000 children nationally could potentially lose Summer EBT beginning in 2029.

It’s unclear how many Mainers would be affected by the rule, if implemented. 

The proposed rule would end a policy known as “broad-based categorical eligibility,” which allows states to expand SNAP access to households that receive aid from TANF but have assets above the normal SNAP threshold. 

“Broad-based categorical eligibility has bloated the welfare rolls for decades,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement. “It has allowed States to take short cuts, error rates to balloon, and those with income and assets far above federal limits access to a benefit meant for the neediest among us. Correcting this loophole is long overdue.”

Advocates argue the rule allows states to streamline SNAP applications for households already deemed eligible for other assistance programs, reducing administrative costs and improving efficiency.

USDA estimates the rule would increase state administrative costs by nearly $930 million.

“Eliminating [broad-based categorical eligibility] does nothing to reduce hunger, and it doesn’t improve program integrity,” said Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center in a statement.

Thousands of Mainers have already been removed from SNAP since the passage of the Republicans One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer, which enacted stricter work requirements. 

Since the law took effect in July 2025, Maine has seen a 13% reduction in SNAP participants, or nearly 23,000 people, including 7,000 children. 

States have also faced rising administrative costs under the bill. Maine’s current two-year budget includes an additional $6 million for administrative costs associated with implementing the new federal requirements.

“It is unconscionable that the Trump administration would attempt to issue this proposed rule again now given the harm that the budget reconciliation law, H.R. 1, has already unleashed,” said FitzSimons. 

The Trump administration proposed a similar rule in 2019, during the president’s first term, but never finalized the regulation. The Biden administration withdrew the proposal in 2021.

It’s unclear whether the proposed rule will ultimately be finalized following changes in leadership after the midterms. Democrats, who took control of both houses of Congress last week, have vowed to roll back SNAP cuts.

Editor Lauren McCauley contributed to this reporting.