Food Programs — News & Analysis

Trump touts 2.4 million "lifted off food stamps" in State of the Union (February 24, 2026)

February 24, 2026 — During his State of the Union address, President Trump highlighted declining SNAP enrollment as a first-term achievement, claiming that his administration had "lifted 2.4 million Americans, a record, off of food stamps." Critics responded that the decline reflected the One Big Beautiful Bill's eligibility cuts and expanded work requirements, not improved economic conditions.

The OBBBA, signed July 4, 2025, cut approximately $186 billion from SNAP over a decade, expanded work requirements to cover adults through age 64, stripped eligibility from refugees and asylees, and froze future benefit adjustments. Analysts noted that the largest single-month drop in SNAP enrollment — over 1 million recipients in October–November 2025 — corresponded exactly with states' implementation of the new OBBBA work rules on November 1.

Labor organizations and anti-hunger advocates pushed back on the framing, arguing that people being cut from food assistance without improved income or employment is not a policy success. The AFL-CIO noted the law cut food assistance and Medicaid to fund tax cuts for wealthy Americans. Independent researchers at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities had previously found that most people losing SNAP under expanded work requirements lose food assistance with no corresponding improvement in employment or wages.