Starting in November 2025, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will undergo significant changes under the new legislation, affecting over 42 million recipients.

These changes include stricter work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), who must now demonstrate at least 80 hours of work or training per month, with exemptions limited to those responsible for young children or specific groups like Native Americans.

Additionally, all adults under 65 will be required to meet these work criteria to continue receiving benefits beyond three months, removing previous exemptions for veterans, homeless individuals, and foster care youth.

The bill also removes work requirement exemptions for certain vulnerable populations, such as veterans, homeless individuals, and foster youth, making these groups subject to the same eligibility rules as others.

SNAP eligibility will be further tightened for immigrants, including refugees, asylum seekers, and survivors of human trafficking, who are likely to lose benefits, although specific guidance is still pending.

In regions with unemployment rates exceeding 10%, states can request waivers from ABAWD work requirements, with different criteria applying to Alaska and Hawaii.

Federal funding for SNAP will now depend on states maintaining error rates below 6%, with only a few states meeting this threshold last year; higher error rates will force states to cover a larger share of benefit costs, potentially reducing benefits in high-error states.

Additional provisions include limiting annual cost-of-living adjustments, changing utility calculations, eliminating the SNAP Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention grant, and increasing administrative cost-sharing from 50-50 to 75-25 starting in fiscal year 2027, with some states beginning to pay a portion of benefits in 2028.