What the Farm Bill Doesn't Fix and Why that Matters
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the country's primary safeguard against hunger. It reaches people across every congressional district, children, older adults, veterans, people with disabilities, and working families who face the impossible math of too little income and too many expenses.
In Pennsylvania alone, roughly 2 million residents, about one in seven people, relied on SNAP in 2024. Nearly 58% of those participants live in households with children.
Earlier this year, H.R.1, the federal budget reconciliation law, enacted $187 billion in SNAP cuts alongside other changes to program eligibility and administration. According to the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), SNAP participation has dropped by approximately 3.3 million people nationwide over the past year.
In Allegheny County, data from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services shows that more than 5,000 residents have already lost their benefits as a direct result of these rule changes.
The Farm Bill (formally titled the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026) is the legislation that typically sets the rules for federal nutrition programs including SNAP. It represents an opportunity to course-correct. But as currently written, the bill does not reverse any of the cuts or program changes put in place by H.R.1.
The Congressional Budget Office's independent analysis confirms that without those reversals, the harm already in motion will continue to compound. Fewer children will have consistent access to food during the school year. Older adults on fixed incomes will face harder tradeoffs. Veterans and people with disabilities will lose the support they counted on. And the ripple effects will extend beyond households, hitting farmers, food retailers, and local economies that depend on SNAP dollars circulating in communities.
Beyond the crucial support it provides to families across the nation, SNAP is an active economic system. Every dollar in SNAP benefits generates economic activity at grocery stores, corner markets, and farms. When participation drops and benefit levels fall the effects reach well beyond the families directly affected.
A Farm Bill that doesn't address these cuts is a decision to leave in place a set of policy changes that, by the government's own projections, will deepen hunger and economic hardship for some of the most vulnerable people in the country.
