The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will have ugly consequences for hunger in America.
The new law makes historic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which delivers food assistance to 42 million people.
Over the next 10 years, 22.3 million families will lose food assistance. That’s roughly equal to the population of America’s 10 largest cities combined.
More than 5 million families will lose, on average, around $150 a month in food assistance, raising costs for working people. For the most vulnerable families, that’s the difference between going hungry and surviving.
Cutting SNAP also shrinks America’s school breakfast and lunch programs. That means hundreds of thousands of kids will go hungry without free and reduced-price school meals.
Cutting food assistance is also expected to hurt school employees who provide meals to kids, since their jobs are funded through the program.
Home-based child care providers could also lose out on food reimbursement support, affecting their ability to provide meals and snacks to the children they care for.
While these cuts won’t go into effect until 2026, some states and counties are already sounding the alarm about how their communities will be hurt.
However, there will be some who come out on top: the wealthiest Americans. These cuts, along with cuts to Medicaid and other essential programs, are paying for trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the country’s super-wealthy.