'Alarming': More than 700K kids lose food aid after Trump's big beautiful bill

More than 700,000 children have lost access to food stamps in 12 states with available data since President Donald Trump signed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" into law — and experts warn the true national toll is far worse.

A new analysis published Wednesday by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that 728,492 children lost SNAP benefits in those states between July 2025 and April 2026 — nearly half of the 1.6 million total participants who dropped off the rolls in that period. The nonpartisan research group cautioned that the data covers only states that publicly report child caseload figures, meaning the real number is likely much higher.

"Nowhere has the SNAP decline been more alarming than in Arizona," the report's author, Joseph Llobrera, wrote. The state shed more than 200,000 children from its rolls — a 55 percent drop — even as unemployment there rose, undercutting any suggestion the decline reflects an improving economy.

Texas lost 253,000 children. Louisiana shed 79,000. Massachusetts saw nearly 50,000 fewer children receiving benefits — a 15 percent drop in just eight months — with the state's unemployment rate also climbing.

Signed into law on July 4, 2025, the bill cuts federal SNAP funding by $186 billion through 2034 — the largest cut to the program in its history. The law shifts a growing share of benefit costs onto states, which experts say is forcing agencies to erect new bureaucratic barriers that are pushing eligible families off the program.

The consequences extend beyond grocery benefits. Children who lose SNAP also lose automatic eligibility for free school meals and summer EBT, with CBO estimating 96,000 children per month will lose access to school meal programs as a result.

"Children's learning will be disrupted and their health will be jeopardized," said Erin Hysom, senior child nutrition policy analyst at the Food Research & Action Center. "It's really going to be devastating. Every state will be affected."

CBPP is calling on Congress to delay the law's cost-shift provision by at least two years to prevent further losses.