Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Rule Changes

Tracks the enrollment decline and criticizes the law

More than five million people lost food stamp benefits in the year after the One Big Beautiful Act took effect in July 2025. USDA data shows enrollment fell from 41.6 million to 36.5 million by June 2026, a 13% drop. State data shows the decline continuing: Texas had 2.8 million enrolled in September 2026, down 20.8% from a year earlier.

Updated Oct 27

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Leading critic of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's safety net cuts

The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that median household income reached $87,460 in 2025, the highest on record since 1967 and up 2.6% from $85,210 the year before. The official poverty rate fell half a point to 10.2%, and child poverty dropped to a historic low of 13.4%.

Updated Sep 15

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Estimates SNAP enrollment losses

Miami-Dade, the third-largest school district in the country, stopped serving free breakfast and lunch to all of its 300,000 students this fall. Only 121 of its 500-plus schools still qualify for the federal program that pays for those meals.

Updated Sep 6

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Leading advocate for SPM adoption and safety net expansion

The Census Bureau announced on September 9, 2025 that poverty fell to 10.6% in 2024—the lowest in years and proof, officials said, that the economy was lifting Americans up. But buried in the same report: a different poverty measure showed 12.9% of Americans struggling, with no improvement at all, same country, same year, two completely different stories about who's hurting.

Updated May 20