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It is Friday.

And here’s the entirely foreseeable result of a law that imposes massive penalties if states give families the wrong amount of SNAP benefits, but no penalties if they make it virtually impossible for eligible families to get benefits in the first place.

I would quibble with this headline because an administration that "wants to tackle fraud" would probably be a little more interested in whether the "fraud" they've identified is, in fact, actually fraud.

Hard to explain to people who don't follow SNAP closely that Republicans really wrote a law that gives special treatment to states with the highest SNAP error rates while a state that cut errors in half — and thus no longer qualifies for that carveout — may get hit with a bill for $100 million.

There has (rightly) been a focus on Arizona, which has seen the steepest decline in SNAP participation. But huge drops are happening in other states in the wake of these cuts. From July 2025 to June 2026, SNAP participation fell 21% in Louisiana. 21% in Florida. 20% in Illinois.

SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Harmful 2025 Republican Reconciliation Law Is ImplementedSNAP participation nationwide fell by more than 4.5 million people (nearly 11 percent) between the law’s July 2025 enactment and April 2026, based on the latest month of data.www.cbpp.org

In the 11 months after the reconciliation law was enacted, the number of people receiving SNAP in Kansas fell by 13 percent. Almost half of the more than 25,000 Kansans who lost benefits were children.

You can bookmark this one for the next time a senior administration official baselessly claims that states "just take your word for it" and "don't even check" when people apply for SNAP. www.azcentral.com/story/grocer...

Many families losing SNAP, including this one, are losing benefits despite still being eligible. But even if their benefits are eventually restored (again, because they're eligible) going without SNAP for months causes immense hardship. They skip meals. They fall behind on rent.

We now have data from 19 states showing how many fewer children are receiving SNAP in the wake of these cuts. The steepest drops in those states: -49% in AZ (-182,058 kids) -23% in LA (-82,064 kids) -18% in TX (-317,316 kids) -18% in MA (-61,647 kids)

Number of Children Receiving SNAP Continues to Drop Under Harmful 2025 Republican Reconciliation LawIn the 19 states with publicly available data or that have shared unpublished data, the harmful Republican reconciliation law has taken SNAP food assistance away from more than 1 million children...www.cbpp.org

🚨NEW: In the 9 months after last year’s reconciliation law enacted unprecedented SNAP cuts, the number of people receiving SNAP fell by more than 4.5 million. Based on available data, we estimate that at least 1.5 million fewer kids are receiving SNAP. www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

"It’s an existential threat. States are absolutely contemplating a world in which SNAP isn’t available."

Exactly this. People who want SNAP caseloads to return to where they were 25 years ago should probably explain why they want a highly effective & efficient anti-hunger program to reach a much smaller share of the people who need it.

I talk a lot about states adding "red tape" & "bureaucratic obstacles" in response to federal SNAP cuts, which are wholly inadequate terms to describe “give us documentary evidence of your panhandling income, even though we know those records don't exist." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/u...

As the unprecedented SNAP cuts in last year's reconciliation law have unleashed "bureaucratic chaos," too many eligible low-income families are losing the SNAP benefits they need to afford groceries. The human cost is immense: Skipped meals. Unpaid rent. Constant worry.

Yeah, so the problem is that "the number of individuals receiving benefits" nationwide has suddenly been changing very quickly and in only direction (down!) following the enactment of unprecedented cuts & during a period the economy hasn't improved. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

As kids across the country lose SNAP in the wake of these cuts, a reminder that one study found that every $1 invested in SNAP for children returns $62 in value over their lifetimes due to a range of benefits - improved educational outcomes, higher earnings in adulthood & more.

A member of North Carolina's congressional delegation at a SNAP hearing last year: "I find it incredibly misleading when my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim that counties are going to bear the cost of this legislation." Now:

Let's be clear about the consequences for kids when their families need SNAP to afford groceries but no longer get that help:

More stories of struggling families in AZ who have lost SNAP as the state responds to deep federal cuts: They can't get through on overloaded phone lines They're waiting for hours at DES offices & still not getting help They're facing never-ending requests for more documentation

SNAP was their lifeline. Struggling Arizonans say it's failing themHalf a million Arizonans lost SNAP benefits since 2025. Behind the scenes of how families are struggling without food stamps.www.azcentral.com

291,000+ kids in Texas. 195,000+ kids in Arizona. 156,000+ kids in California. 83,000+ kids in Louisiana. 61,000+ kids in Massachusetts. 50,000+ kids in Ohio. 41,000+ kids in Michigan. 23,000+ kids in Alabama. 21,000+ kids in New Jersey. 17,000+ kids each in Maryland & Missouri.