New SNAP Restrictions Take Effect

New Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rules are going into effect on Saturday, even as benefits will already not be issued through November without federal funding due to the government shutdown.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) website, where millions of Americans can review their options and apply, details how “the well has run dry” to issue program benefits. Atop the page, the USDA blames Senate Democrats for benefits not being issued starting Saturday.

While SNAP benefits will not be issued until funding continues, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act also places new restrictions into effect starting Saturday. These changes are expected to push some people out of the program after an estimated $186 billion federal spending cut over the next decade.

Able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) could see the biggest change in needing to prove they work at least 80 hours a month, are pursuing an education or are in a training program to remain qualified for SNAP. Should they not have proof, they will receive SNAP benefits for a total of three months maximum.

Additionally, any able adults under 65 must prove they are working to continue receiving benefits. Parents with dependents under 14 are now exempt from the work requirements, whereas before it applied to parents with dependents under 18 years old. Young adults, veterans and homeless people must now meet work requirements to receive over three months of benefits.

Another change in effect will impact “non-citizen eligibility for SNAP” for immigrants, including non-citizen U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants and those who are undocumented.

State agencies will have to review “household circumstances to take appropriate action” during an immigrant’s certification for benefits period before notifying that individual that they are no longer eligible for SNAP, according to the USDA’s website.

Refugees granted asylum and human trafficking survivors, meanwhile, will lose their benefits, according to a memo from Oregon’s Department of Human Services.

What remains an issue is if the USDA will use its contingency funding to allow SNAP benefits to be paid for through November. On Friday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from cutting off SNAP benefits. U.S. District Judge John McConnell rejected the argument that emergency funding can only be used for those impacted by natural disasters.

On Friday, Rollins told reporters that it Democrats were wrong in suggesting that the contingency fund could be used.

Later on Friday, Trump indicated that he would fund SNAP, but noted that they would be delayed for the month of November.