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Pennsylvania Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation continues to decline a year after H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, took effect, reflecting a nationwide reduction in food assistance.
Since President Donald Trump signed the legislation into law in July 2025, Pennsylvania's SNAP enrollment has fallen 11%, from 1.96 million recipients to 1.74 million, according to recent data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Over the same period, enrollment among children has declined 9%.
Healthcare providers warn of the potential health risks for families that come with program cuts.
"As pediatricians, we will often see parents coming to us toward the end of the month that don't have enough resources to supply food and are having to make tough decisions between paying the bills or buying food for their families," Dr. Andrew D. Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said during a Wednesday CBPP press conference. "The fact of the matter is that one in five households in this country are food insecure ... the $6 and change that every SNAP recipient receives can make a huge difference in keeping a child from being hungry, and hunger has significant health consequences for children."
Nationally, SNAP participation fell by 4.5 million people, including at least 1.5 million children between July 2025 and April 2026, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The last time there was such a steep and widespread decrease in enrollment was in 1996 after Congress enacted deep cuts to the program, which was then the Food Stamps Program.
Experts attribute the enrollment decline specifically to stricter reporting of work requirements at both application and renewal, elimination of access to key waivers and narrow exemptions under federal law.
Social service advocates say the nation's affordability crisis is making it harder for families to make ends meet and are urging Congress to delay H.R. 1's impact on the country's most vulnerable populations.
"People across the country are consistently telling pollsters and policymakers that they want Washington to focus on affordability, especially the high cost of food. Mitigating last year's SNAP cuts, and staunching the number of people -- including kids -- losing SNAP would be a good place to start," Sharon Parrott, CBPP president, said during the press conference.
Beyond its impact on recipients, the law also carries significant consequences for states. H.R. 1 makes sweeping changes to SNAP by shifting a portion of the program's administrative and benefit costs to states. Beginning in October 2027, Pennsylvania could face roughly $410 million in new annual expenses if its SNAP payment error rate remains above 6%, the threshold at which states must begin covering a share of benefit costs under the law, according to the USDA.
A SNAP payment error rate measures the percentage of benefits that are issued incorrectly -- either overpayments or underpayments -- typically because of eligibility or administrative errors, not necessarily fraud. Pennsylvania's payment error rate was 9.21% in fiscal year 2025.