Trump Tried to Cut Food Stamps Four Times. His Administration Nearly Stripped 700,000 People in the Middle of a Pandemic.

SNAP is one of the most effective and cost-efficient anti-poverty programs in American history. Independent research consistently shows it reduces food insecurity, improves health outcomes (especially for children), and supports local economies — SNAP dollars are spent at grocery stores, generating economic activity in communities. An analysis by the USDA found every $5 in SNAP benefits generates approximately $9 in economic activity. The Trump administration spent its first term trying to cut it anyway.

The most significant first-term SNAP cut attempt came in December 2019, when USDA finalized a rule restricting states' ability to waive work requirements for "able-bodied adults without dependents" (ABAWDs) during periods of high unemployment. Under existing rules, states with high unemployment rates could automatically waive a three-month limit on SNAP benefits for people without children. The Trump rule tightened those waivers, which CBPP estimated would have removed approximately 700,000 people from SNAP — people who were food insecure and struggling to find work in areas with limited job opportunities. A federal judge blocked the rule in March 2020, explicitly noting that the administration had "failed to explain why" the change served SNAP's purpose of feeding people, and specifically noting the rule was being challenged as COVID-19 was triggering catastrophic unemployment. The judge called the rule "arbitrary and capricious."

The Trump administration also proposed, in each of its four annual budgets, cutting SNAP by converting it to a "Harvest Box" program that would have replaced a portion of SNAP benefits with government-selected food packages — a proposal widely criticized as reducing recipient choice and ignoring dietary needs, and which Congress rejected each time. The combined USDA budget proposals over four years would have cut SNAP by approximately $200 billion over a decade. Congress rejected every proposal. In the second term, the OBBBA enacted significant SNAP cuts: requiring states to share in SNAP costs for the first time, imposing new work requirements, and restricting eligibility for immigrants.