03/23/2026
"Gina Plata-Nino, deputy director of SNAP at the Food Action and Research Center, on the Food Research and Action Center blog: "Millions of individuals with low incomes, including caregivers, veterans, older adults, and those experiencing homelessness will now face more hardship. It will increase administrative burdens on already strained state agencies and deepen food insecurity and poverty. Proponents claim that people can simply volunteer to maintain their benefits, but this “work-for-food” alternative is difficult to implement in practice. Outlined below are the significant barriers that make mandated volunteering a deeply flawed and burdensome policy, not only for participants but for the states and nonprofits expected to support it. "
Of the estimated 2.4 million people who could lose benefits, CAP estimates this could lead to 69,600 more deaths.