The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would remove about 6.3 million people from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the largest federal food aid program. The United States Department of Agriculture published the proposed rule on Tuesday, and it would end automatic eligibility for households that qualify through another aid program.
Why it matters
The change targets broad based categorical eligibility, the provision that automatically makes households eligible for food aid if they meet state requirements for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Under the proposal, those households would have to qualify for food aid on their own, and the agency analysis says nearly 18 percent of recipients, about 6.3 million people, would lose benefits.
The context is a program already shrinking. More than 5.5 million people have already lost food aid since President Trump enacted cuts to the program in his July 2025 tax law, bringing enrollment to about 36 million people. The new proposal would cut deeper into a program that serves low income families, and the food aid program itself requires households to earn less than 130 percent of the federal poverty level to qualify.
What happens next
The agency says the revisions would ensure benefits are targeted to needy households that have qualified for cash aid, while aligning eligibility with its statutory purpose of simplifying program administration. Critics say the change would take food from families that the law was written to feed, and the proposal is now open for public comment for 30 days.
For now, the rule is a proposal, not a final decision. The 30 day comment period will draw responses from states, anti hunger groups and lawmakers, and the final rule will show how much of the cut survives. The 6.3 million figure is the number at the centre of the fight, and it will not be forgotten.
The proposal also matters for the states that run the program. Food aid is administered by the states, and the end of automatic eligibility means more paperwork, more verification and more families turned away at the counter. The states will have to decide how to apply the new rules, and the burden will fall on the caseworkers who already handle the largest food aid program in the country. The 30 day comment period will hear from them, and from the families who will lose the help they count on.
