More than 700,000 children have lost food assistance across the 12 states that report enrollment by age, according to a new analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities — 728,492 children between July 2025 and April 2026, nearly half of the 1.6 million participants who dropped off the rolls in that period. A parallel ProPublica analysis puts the figure even higher, at least 776,000 children, and both groups caution the true national toll is larger because most states don’t break out child data.
The losses trace to the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1), signed into law July 4, 2025, which cuts federal SNAP funding by $186 billion through 2034 — the largest cut in the program’s history. The law shifts large benefit costs onto states for the first time and expands work requirements, and analysts say the resulting red tape and recertification barriers are pushing eligible families out even though children were never the stated target
Arizona has been hit hardest, shedding more than 200,000 children — a 55 percent drop — even as unemployment rose. Texas lost 253,000 children, Louisiana 79,000, and Massachusetts nearly 50,000.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins disputes the figures. Pressed by Rep. Jim McGovern, she called the 700,000 number “not correct,” contending most people removed were “fraudulent” and that the source was not a nonpartisan group — though ProPublica says it independently verified CBPP’s numbers.
The fallout reaches beyond groceries: children who lose SNAP also lose streamlined eligibility for WIC and automatic enrollment in free school meals, with food banks reporting surging demand.