Cuts in SNAP budget means more Americans relying on food banks
By Grace Van Duyn
Nonprofit Sector News, May 19, 2026
Funding cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest federal nutrition assistance program, are increasingly forcing Americans to rely on emergency food assistance networks such as Feeding America and local food banks.
SNAP provides monthly financial assistance to low-income individuals and families to help supplement grocery costs. Benefits are distributed through Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, which function similarly to debit cards and can be used at most grocery stores, supermarkets and participating farmers markets to purchase approved food items such as meat, dairy and bread.
According to 2025 data from the Pew Research Center, roughly 1 in 8 Americans received SNAP benefits in May 2025, though participation numbers fluctuate monthly. Despite the widespread reliance on the program, federal SNAP funding was reduced by $187 billion through 2034 under the One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law last July.
“The food banks and the charitable food network will do what we can, but no, we really can’t fill the massive gaps when there are massive cuts,” said Michael Flood, president and CEO of The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, a member of the Feeding America network, serves an average of 1.2 million people through partner agency networks and direct service programs. Although the organization has supported the Los Angeles community since 1973, Flood described 2025 as a “monumental year.” Its annual revenues each year are between $300 million and $400 million.
Beginning with the Los Angeles wildfires in January, followed by cuts to CalFresh, California’s SNAP, in July and a prolonged federal government shutdown from Oct.1 through Nov. 12, demand for food assistance surged across the region.
Flood said that the organization distributed 22% more food in 2025 than it did in 2024. This measurement is a reflection of the growing strain being placed on both food banks and the people relying on them.
California’s experience reflects a broader national trend: food banks are increasingly being pushed to fill gaps left by SNAP reductions and restrictive eligibility changes. Yet researchers and advocates argue that the program’s shortcomings existed long before the most recent legislation.
“We already knew that SNAP benefits were inadequate,” said Elaine Waxman, senior fellow in the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute.
Given her expertise in food insecurity, food access and federal nutrition programs, Waxman explained that the structural weaknesses within SNAP are unlikely to be corrected through timely adjustments alone.
“We went in with an inadequate benefit that won’t be corrected just by inflation adjustments,” Waxman said.
Research published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2021 supports this concern, showing that many households exhaust their SNAP benefits long before the end of the month. With benefits being distributed monthly, 62% of households use more than half of their benefits by the end first week, while 86% spend more than half by the end first two weeks of the benefit cycle.
These longstanding problems within SNAP are now being intensified by recent legislative changes. Critics of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have pointed specifically to changes involving the Thrifty Food Plan, the formula used to calculate SNAP benefits. Under the legislation, future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan must remain “cost-neutral,” limiting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ability to adjust benefits to reflect rising food costs, updated dietary guidelines or changes in food preparation expenses.
At the same time, the Make America Healthy Again initiative is reshaping what some SNAP recipients are allowed to purchase. Under the initiative, the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services have approved state waivers restricting SNAP purchases of items such as candy and soda. Critics argue that the policy could disproportionately impact people living in food deserts, where convenience stores are often the only accessible food retailers and fresh produce options remain limited.
As restrictions on SNAP continue to grow, additional pressure is falling on organizations such as Feeding America and local food pantries. Originally founded in the late 1960s to rescue surplus food and provide temporary emergency relief, Feeding America has evolved into a long-term support system for families facing chronic food insecurity. (Its total revenues are about $5.2 billion per year.)
Local food banks have followed this same trajectory.
“Programs like The Open Door, it’s a safety net under the safety net. But we were never intended to carry the whole weight that the federal nutrition program carries,” said Julia LaFontaine, president and CEO of The Open Door, a nonprofit community resource center located in Gloucester serving 11 cities and towns in northeastern Essex County, Massachusetts. According to LaFontaine, 62% of the organization’s food supply comes from The Greater Boston Food Bank, a partner food bank within the Feeding America network.
The Open Door provides community meals through in-person dining and meal-to-go programs while also offering online grocery ordering, mobile farmers markets and food delivery services for residents unable to travel to food pantries themselves. LaFontaine said that the organization experienced a 30% increase in requests for food assistance in 2023, another 30% in 2024, and then a 36% increase in 2025.
To help families stretch their benefits further, the organization encourages residents to use “The ‘Door Before the Store,” a mantra encouraging households to access free groceries before spending their monthly SNAP allotments.
“There is a real disconnect between wages and the actual cost of living and what it takes to put food on the table and keep a roof over your head,” LaFontaine said.
The growing demand for food assistance is occurring at the same time that many nonprofit organizations are also facing operational costs and concerns about donor fatigue.
“Economic pressures are pressing from the top and the bottom at the same time,” LaFontaine said in reference to rising fuel, electricity and food transportation costs.
Although charitable organizations continue to receive community support, many food banks and pantries remain concerned about sustaining donations and volunteer efforts as inflation and economic uncertainty continue.
“There could be donor and volunteer fatigue, feeling like this is too big,” LaFonatine said.
Project Bread similarly works to address hunger across Massachusetts, though its approach focuses heavily on connecting residents with federal nutrition programs such as SNAP, the National School Breakfast Program and the Summer Food Service Program.
Sarah Cluggish, chief programs officer at Project Bread, described SNAP as essential to preventing hunger statewide.
“SNAP is our most effective tool at addressing hunger,” Cluggish said.
Cluggish explained that many Massachusetts residents remain eligible for benefits but are struggling to navigate increasingly complex program requirements.
“Many people are actually still eligible for SNAP, but trying to navigate all the new program requirements is creating a lot of confusion,” Cluggish said.
According to Cluggish, Massachusetts has already seen approximately 140,000 people lose SNAP benefits following the recent federal policy changes.
Beginning in fall 2027, states are expected to begin paying a portion of SNAP benefit costs if their payment error rates are at or above 6%, marking a major structural shift for a program that has historically been entirely federally funded. Advocates warn the change could place additional strain on state budgets, food banks and charitable food networks that are already struggling to keep pace with demand.
“Food pantries….were never meant to be a permanent solution,” Cluggish said.
She added that, “SNAP is such a critical issue for so many families…it just allows them to do what all of us take advantage of, which is being able to go to the grocery store and purchase the food that you need.”