The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, serving approximately 41 million low-or-no-income people. Nearly half (44%) are children. In fact, approximately a quarter of all children in the United States rely on SNAP benefits to meet nutritional needs. But that may change if congressional Republicans succeed in their current efforts to change the definition of “dependent” by lowering the age of dependents from 18 to 7.
The House Congressional budget resolution instructed the House Agriculture Committee to cut a minimum of $230 billion from programs it runs, and reductions set to fall primarily on SNAP. The Republican majority on the Committee ultimately increased overall cuts to $313 billion. This would be accomplished, in part, by widening the ages at which work requirements apply and handing more administrative costs to individual states.
Currently, “able-bodied adults” aged 18 to 54 who don’t have children must meet work requirements — a minimum of 20 hours a week — that a number of policy agencies and experts have criticized as ineffective, largely because employment often depends on factors outside of one’s control. Adults with children under the age of 18 are exempt from these requirements and the often labyrinthine bureaucracy of qualifying for a work exemption, which ultimately excludes many eligible beneficiaries.
There are limited exceptions to the new rules. Homeless people, veterans, and recipients under 24 would be exempt from this new requirement. The work requirement also does not apply to married adults if their partner meets work requirements. Unmarried couples, however, or single parents, would be required to work, posing difficulties in affording childcare in addition to affording food. Some have speculated that this could inadvertently serve to keep women in abusive marriages.
Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D, CT), a ranking member of the Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee, categorized the cuts to the program as being made “to fund tax breaks for billionaires.”
“The passage of this Republican reconciliation bill, with text we received just 24 hours before the markup began, confirms that hunger is a policy choice,” she said in a statement. “This rushed, partisan process has yielded a devastating bill.”
Democrats submitted 78 amendments for consideration, though only 34 were heard before Republicans suspended debate. None were adopted.
Hayes also noted that these changes would not only affect families and children but would also prompt “significant negative consequences across the food supply chain and U.S. agricultural sector.”
For their part, the Republican-controlled House Committee on Agriculture said in a post on X, “Our budget reconciliation text restores SNAP to its original intent—promoting work, not welfare—while saving taxpayer dollars and investing in American agriculture.”
Data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggests these changes would affect more than 4 million children aged 7 through 17.
