The Trump administration has proposed changes to U.S. food-aid eligibility that the Department of Agriculture estimates would remove about 6.3 million people from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Al Jazeera reports.

The proposed rule, published Tuesday, Nov. 10, would end provisions that automatically qualify households for SNAP when they meet state-administered requirements for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It is open for public comment for 30 days and is not a final rule.

According to Al Jazeera’s reporting by Umar Farooq, the USDA estimates the change would affect about 17 per cent of SNAP beneficiaries. It would also cause about 1.8 million children to lose eligibility for free school lunches linked to their participation in SNAP.

More than 36 million people currently receive SNAP benefits. Average monthly assistance is about US$190 for an individual and US$356 for a household, the report said.

SNAP generally requires household income below 130 per cent of the federal poverty level. The existing automatic-eligibility provisions allow households qualifying through TANF to receive SNAP benefits under state requirements that can accommodate incomes up to 200 per cent of the poverty level.

The USDA said the revisions would target benefits to needy households that have qualified for TANF assistance while preserving the statutory purpose of simplifying administration.

Democratic lawmakers criticized the proposal. Minnesota Representative Angie Craig said it would make basic needs harder to meet and reverse efforts to streamline federal programs. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker said the administration should help people afford groceries rather than deepen safety-net cuts.

The proposal follows earlier restrictions under the July 2025 Big Beautiful Bill. Al Jazeera reported that about 5.5 million people had already lost access to SNAP following changes that expanded work requirements and made certain categories of immigrants ineligible.

Sources