A new Associated Press analysis finds that SNAP enrollment fell by more than 13% between May 2025 and May 2026, a much steeper decline than the Congressional Budget Office had projected as expanded work requirements and other changes to the program take effect.
The sharpest declines are raising questions about why people are losing SNAP benefits and whether the drop reflects people moving into employment or eligible recipients being pushed off the program because of administrative hurdles.
Priya Fielding-Singh, Director of Policy and Programs at the Global Food Institute at George Washington University is available to discuss what the latest numbers mean and what the changes could mean for food insecurity, families and the broader social safety net.
Fielding-Singh was also part of a report recently released: One Year Later: How H.R. 1's SNAP Policy Changes Are Reverberating Across the Food System that examines the first year following the enactment of H.R. 1. It concludes that the law represents the most significant restructuring of SNAP in the program's 50-year history and has far reaching implications across the entire food safety net.
If you would like to speak to Priya Fielding-Singh please reach out to Katelyn Deckelbaum, katelyn [dot] deckelbaum
gwu [dot] edu (katelyn[dot]deckelbaum[at]gwu[dot]edu).
-GW-