The study shows that more than 80,000 Alabamians have lost food assistance

A up-to-date analysis shows that more than 80,000 Alabamians lost access to a federal anti-hunger program after Congress passed up-to-date restrictions.

According to Center for Budget and Policy Prioritiesleftist think tank based in Washington, D.C., participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dropped 11% between July 2025, when President Donald Trump signed a law imposing up-to-date restrictions on the program, and May of last year.

The study also found that more than 23,000 children lost access to SNAP, representing 29% of the total decline.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said LaTrell Clifford Wood, a hunger policy advocate at Alabama Arise, a nonprofit that serves lower-income households in the state. “The first thought is that it is heartbreaking to see our families harmed by greed based on a single number that does not measure what it is intended to measure.”

A message seeking comment was sent Wednesday to the Alabama Department of Human Resources, which administers SNAP in Alabama.

Under the Budget Reconciliation Act passed by Congress in July, the funding formula placed a greater financial burden on states. In the past, the federal government funded all food benefits and shared the costs of administering the program equally with states.

The Conciliation Act increased the states’ share of administrative costs from 50% to 75%, potentially forcing states to shoulder some of the benefits. If states achieve a SNAP error rate of at least 6%, they will pay a portion of the program’s financial benefits. Error rates don’t necessarily indicate fraud, Wood said.

“They are a measure of underpayments and overpayments in state departments,” Wood said. “They are not based on the actions of the members of our community who use this program, and it is extremely unfair to engage with people who use these programs with these feelings.”

States with an error rate greater than 6% will pay between 5% and 15% of the cost of benefits. People using higher rates could withdraw as much as 25% of the benefit.

Alabama state officials said in April that the state error rate was 10%. Under the reconciliation bill, it could cost the state between $174 million and $261 million.

Nationwide, about 4.5 million fewer people received federal food assistance between July 2025 and April of this year, a decline of about 11% over nine months, according to Ty Jones Cox, vice president for food assistance at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“SNAP is in the midst of the largest and fastest decline in participation in decades,” Jones Cox said. “And it is not because there is less need that we face a hunger crisis that Congress has the power to alleviate.”

This is the largest decline since 1997, when Congress imposed keen cuts to food aid programs.

“This decline is even exceeding government projections,” Jones Cox said.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that about 3 million fewer people would participate in SNAP in a typical month under the up-to-date restrictions.

Much of the loss can be explained by actions states have taken in preparation for changes to SNAP rules, Jones Cox said.

“People need food assistance today as much as they did a year ago, and they are simply being cut off from assistance as states try to limit their exposure to the massive new cuts they face due to cost changes resulting from the Reconciliation Act,” Jones Cox said. “This is the reality on the ground – states are rushing to comply with the costly provisions of harmful reconciliation laws.”

In response, Jones Cox said states are erecting additional barriers to support reduce the potential error rate. Some states require applicants to submit additional documentation with shortened certification periods, Jones Cox said, which could deny benefits to eligible people.

“What happens with additional documentation, like a single-person household, you can usually put that on the application and states accept it,” Jones Cox said. “You say, ‘This is my income.’ Now they say, ‘Make sure no one else lives with you.’ Which is very complicated.

Some states now require a person’s neighbor or other person to sign documents confirming that the applicant lives alone.

The budget reconciliation bill also increased the working age from 54 to 64. The program also excluded some immigrants eligible to stay in the country from participating.