The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides vital grocery help to over half a million Kentuckians, including many children, older adults and Kentuckians with disabilities – all while supporting local economies, farmers and workers. But new data from Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services shows that tens of thousands of them have lost this lifeline since the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or H.R.1.
As of May 2026, roughly one in 14 SNAP participating Kentuckians (42,870 of 627,153) lost benefits in the seven months since H.R. 1 was implemented. Over 26% of them (11,168) were children.
This steep decline in the number of people receiving food assistance isn’t because they no longer need help affording groceries. In fact, Kentuckians have struggled to afford basic needs during this same time, as grocery costs remained high, gas prices peaked, and job growth came to a standstill. Instead, Kentuckians are being cut off from SNAP by H.R.1’s harsh eligibility restrictions.
By expanding the existing work reporting requirements in SNAP to a broader range of people in far more Kentucky counties, H.R.1 put food assistance at risk for an additional 114,000 Kentucky children, working parents with low-paying jobs, older adults living on fixed incomes, former foster youth and veterans. Additionally, H.R.1 changed eligibility requirements that stripped assistance from many lawfully present immigrants, including refugees, people granted asylum and survivors of violence and trafficking.
When people lose SNAP, pressure increases for food banks and church pantries. But that cannot cover the increased need, as SNAP provides nine meals for every one provided by a food bank. The consequences of losing food assistance ripple beyond the dinner table, across our communities to schools, health care systems and local economies.
Hunger is increasing, and yet Kentuckians are losing our best resources against it. Our policymakers in D.C. should act urgently to reverse course and strengthen SNAP. For example, Congress should address these concerns through the upcoming Farm Bill by delaying the further implementation of H.R.1. They should do more to protect recipients from a form of benefits fraud, known as skimming. Congress should also require USDA to continue producing its annual Food Insecurity Report to measure increasing hunger and avoid creating more barriers to safety net programs pushing people closer to this crisis.
