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work requirements
'Disgusting': Republicans Applaud as Trump Brags About Taking Food Aid From Millions
"His Big Ugly Bill ripped food away from hungry moms, kids, and seniors to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans," said one House Democrat.
Feb 25, 2026
US President Donald Trump received a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers and administration officials Tuesday night when he bragged during his State of the Union address about taking nutrition assistance from millions, which he euphemistically characterized as lifting people off food stamps.
"In one year, we have lifted 2.4 million Americans—a record—off of food stamps," Trump said during his nearly two-hour speech.
The Republican reconciliation package that Trump signed into law last summer included $187 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over a 10-year period, the largest cuts to the program in US history.
Trump: "In one year, we have lifted 2.4 million Americans -- a record -- off of food stamps" (In other words, Republicans cut food stamps) pic.twitter.com/19EoNEUmPF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 25, 2026
The Republican law includes reductions in federal nutrition funding for states—which administer SNAP—as well as expanded work requirements, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated would strip nutrition benefits from "roughly 2.4 million people in an average month" over the next decade.
As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted in a recent analysis, changes enacted by the Trump-GOP law mean that "for the first time in the 50-year history of the modern SNAP program, the federal government will no longer ensure that the lowest-income people, including children, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities, in every state have access to the food assistance they need because states that refuse to pay the cost share could see the program end."
Shortly after Trump signed the Republican megabill into law, his administration canceled an annual US Department of Agriculture survey aimed at measuring food insecurity, undercutting efforts to track the impact of the unprecedented SNAP cuts. The USDA's final reports estimated that nearly 48 million people in the US faced food insecurity in 2024—including nearly one in five households with children.
"Trump says he 'lifted' millions off food stamps," Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) wrote in response to the president's State of the Union remarks. "But what he really means is his Big Ugly Bill ripped food away from hungry moms, kids, and seniors to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. The lies are blatant and disgusting."
Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) denounced her Republican colleagues for their celebratory response to Trump's boast.
"They're applauding ripping food out of people’s mouths to fund their tax cuts for billionaires," McBride wrote on social media.
USDA data released ahead of Trump's speech shows that around 696,000 fewer people received SNAP benefits in November 2025 compared to the previous month.
Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst on the food assistance team at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, noted that "people haven’t been dropping off SNAP because they no longer need help."
"Economic conditions haven’t improved and groceries haven’t gotten more affordable," Bergh added. "They're losing basic food assistance because of policy choices. Allowing this trend to continue is also a policy choice."
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The Shutdown Is Over, But America's Hunger Crisis Isn't
As the government reopens, millions will still lose access to food assistance starting almost immediately due to policy changes in the GOP's "Big Beautiful Bill."
Nov 17, 2025
The roughly 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps did not receive their November 1 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as the government shutdown dragged on. The missed payments came just as the holiday season began, leaving many families struggling to put food on the table. Lines at food banks backed up traffic across the country.
The Trump administration defied federal court orders to restore full funding to the program before the Supreme Court’s conservative majority temporarily green-lit the freeze. The White House even tried to claw back funding from states that had already distributed it to hungry families.
Lawmakers have now negotiated an end to the shutdown. But the threat to the nation’s primary nutrition assistance program, SNAP, is far from over. As the government reopens, millions will still lose access to food assistance starting almost immediately.
The GOP’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” passed earlier this year, guts core safety net programs to fund tax cuts for billionaires, mass deportation efforts, and bloated military spending. The GOP law includes the largest SNAP cuts in history, slashing our most important and effective anti-hunger program by roughly 20%.
We have the tools to fight hunger, and we must use them.
People in every state are at risk of losing their food benefits, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. One of the main ways the bill cuts SNAP is by expanding harsh and ineffective work requirements. These new rules will strip food assistance from millions of people, including children, seniors, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the change will cause 2.4 million people to lose benefits in an average month.
Those rules are now in effect, just as families prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving and the winter holidays.
Research shows such requirements have little effect on employment: Most working-age adults enrolled in these programs are already working, and those who are not employed often face high barriers such as caregiving responsibilities or health conditions. Instead, these requirements cause many people who should qualify for SNAP to lose benefits due to red tape and administrative error.
The GOP law also shifts SNAP costs onto states for the first time in the program’s history. This vital food program has always been fully federally funded, but the new budget will require states to take on a significant share of expenses. The unprecedented burden shift will likely lead many states to cut enrollees or even terminate food aid programs entirely for the first time since their inception, causing even more people to go hungry.
As the government resumes normal operations, the fight against hunger must continue. SNAP has long proven to be highly effective at reducing food insecurity and hunger, especially among children. We have the tools to fight hunger, and we must use them.
In the richest country in the world, no one should go hungry.
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Trump’s Big Bill Will Make It Harder for Doctors to Give Patients the Care They Need
Work requirements for Medicaid don’t encourage employment; they punish illness and make recovery harder.
Aug 22, 2025
Like most bright-eyed medical students entering the wards for the first time, I was eager to give my patients the best that modern medicine could offer. This is far from the reality that I was confronted with—one’s insurance status dictated care as much as any guideline, evidence, or well-intentioned physician ever could.
I cared for patients whose chronic illnesses forced them to stop working, only to be told that without a job, they no longer qualified for Medicaid. The logic is cruelly circular: Lose your health, lose your job, lose your care. Work requirements for Medicaid don’t encourage employment; they punish illness and make recovery harder.
Alongside countless peers and healthcare professionals, I was incredibly disheartened on July 4, 2025 as I watched US President Donald Trump sign into law the most sweeping healthcare overhaul since the Affordable Care Act. The 870-page One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is projected to strip health coverage from 11.8 million Americans, leading to an estimated 24,000 preventable deaths each year—driven largely by drastic changes to Medicaid’s administration.
The current administration has long touted work requirements as a fix to Medicaid, having approved 13 Medicaid Section 1115 demonstrations with work requirements in its first term. Unfortunately, it has ignored the failures of these waiver programs and doubled down, making ineffective work requirements the law of the land.
The Majority of Medicaid Recipients Are Already Working
President Trump and his administration have repeatedly stated that the integrity of the Medicaid program needs to be restored, promoting narratives of Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse. As such, work requirements for “able-bodied” Medicaid recipients were a key provision in the OBBBA. However, in reality, 92% of Medicaid beneficiaries are already working, caring for family, attending school, or living with a disability. Only 8% are “able-bodied” adults not seeking employment.
States Have Tried Work Requirements, They Don’t Work
Arkansas was the only state to have a statewide Medicaid work requirement waiver approved. The results were catastrophic; over 18,000 beneficiaries lost coverage in the four months before a judge ruled that the program could not continue. While enacted, the waiver failed to increase employment; instead implementation was associated with increased Medicaid churn, medical debt, and loss of health coverage.
If the ability to work remains a prerequisite for care, I will spend my career watching patients suffer
For other states, like Michigan and New Hampshire, the path to work requirements was mired with legal challenges. Both states proposed work requirements, which would have resulted in nearly 80,000 and 17,000 beneficiaries losing coverage, respectively, had the programs not been suspended before taking effect.
As of July 2025, Georgia is the only state with active work requirements through the Pathways to Coverage program. Results of this program are similarly underwhelming, with only 8,000 enrolled as of June 2025 after two years of rollout and millions spent in administrative costs. Enrollment falls far short of the projected 64,000 enrollees or the 300,000 to 400,000 Georgians who would qualify for coverage under full Medicaid expansion.
The OBBBA Doubles Down on Failed Policy
The OBBBA will require all states to follow Georgia’s path by 2027. Based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates, the federal government will save $900 billion in Medicaid spending over the next decade, with work requirements accounting for a third of the reduced spending. These savings come at an enormous cost—approximately 5 million individuals are projected to lose access to Medicaid by 2034, 1.22 million jobs in the healthcare sector will vanish in the next decade, and unemployment will rise by 0.8%. The consequences of this bill will be devastating.
Medicaid Expansion is a Job Promotion Program
Overwhelming evidence suggests Medicaid expansion has reduced uninsurance rates, increased access to healthcare and pharmaceutical care, and improved health outcomes. Moreover, hospitals in expansion states have seen increased Medicaid revenue, decreased costs of uncompensated care, and states themselves have experienced reductions in disease-related deaths, and gains in life expectancy. Importantly, overwhelming evidence shows expansion has no negative effects on workplace engagement, and rather may help increase workplace success.
If the ability to work remains a prerequisite for care, I will spend my career watching patients suffer—not because I lack the skills to help them, but because the system forbids it. Practicing medicine under those rules doesn’t just make my job harder; it risks our patients losing faith in the system altogether.
The evidence is clear, we should be expanding Medicaid, not restricting it, for the good of our patients, our hospitals, and our country.
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