The Agriculture Department has proposed ending a shortcut that lets most states qualify families for food stamps above the program’s normal income and savings limits. By the department’s own estimate, 6.3 million people in 3.2 million households would no longer receive SNAP benefits in 2029, the first year the change would be fully in effect.
The proposal was filed for public inspection on November 9 and is scheduled to be published November 10. It is not final. The public gets 30 days to comment before the department can decide whether to adopt it.
What the USDA proposal would change
The rule targets a policy called broad-based categorical eligibility. Under it, a household that qualifies for a service paid for by the federal welfare block grant, often nothing more than a brochure or a referral hotline, automatically qualifies for SNAP as well. According to the proposed rule, that route would be limited to households that actually receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) assistance, mainly cash aid.
The difference matters because of the limits states set. The rule notes that regular SNAP requires households without an elderly or disabled member to have gross income at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. Under the broad-based policy, states can raise that line to as much as 200 percent and raise or drop the asset test entirely. The Agriculture Department’s own state chart shows many states with no asset limit at all.
Inside the organizer: If the rule is finalized, households that qualified through a state’s looser limits would be measured again at recertification against the federal income and asset tests. A renewal document checklist and a renewal and reporting calendar in The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer help track which papers a caseworker will ask for and when each report is due.
Who would lose food stamps, by the numbers
The department estimates that 16.9 percent of participating households, or 17.6 percent of SNAP participants, would lose benefits because their income or resources exceed the federal limits. That works out to 3.2 million households containing 6.3 million people in fiscal 2029.
The proposal says more than 840,000 one- and two-person households received the minimum SNAP benefit in 2024 only because they qualified through the broad-based route. Its regulatory analysis puts the cut in federal SNAP benefit spending at about $44.6 billion over fiscal 2027 through 2031.
The effects reach beyond grocery money. About 1.78 million children would no longer be automatically eligible for free school meals, though the department says about 97 percent would still qualify based on household income through a different application. About 42,000 children could lose Summer EBT benefits starting in the summer of 2029, and 5,500 women, infants and children would no longer be eligible for WIC.
Older and disabled households under the federal limits
The regular rules treat households with an older or disabled member differently. According to the proposal, those households need only meet the net income limit, set at 100 percent of the poverty guidelines, rather than the gross income test.
The asset test is where many older households could feel the change. The department’s eligibility page lists a federal limit of $3,000 in countable resources, or $4,750 if at least one member is 60 or older or disabled, for October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027. A home and lot do not count, and neither do the resources of people who receive Supplemental Security Income. In a state that currently has no asset limit, a retired couple with savings above $4,750 could be ruled ineligible at a future recertification if the rule takes effect.
Why USDA says the change is needed, and what came before
The department argues that the broad-based policy “compromised the statutory underpinnings” of categorical eligibility by using non-cash services to raise the limits Congress wrote. The rule says the number of states using the policy grew from 18 to 43 between fiscal 2008 and 2011, after the department encouraged it to raise participation.
This is not the first attempt. USDA proposed a similar restriction on July 24, 2019, and the Biden administration withdrew it on June 10, 2021. The new version was signed by Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen A. Vaden. It also estimates that states would spend about $5.2 billion less on SNAP over five years, even as their administrative costs rise by about $928.5 million.
How to comment before the deadline
Comments are due 30 days after publication, which falls on December 10 if the rule appears in the Federal Register on November 10 as scheduled. They can be filed at regulations.gov under docket FNA-2026-0661, emailed to sm.fn.snappdbrules@usda.gov with the docket number and rule title in the subject line, or mailed to the SNAP Program Development Division, 5601 Sunnyside Ave, Beltsville, MD 20705. The division’s phone number is (703) 305-2022.
Nothing changes for current SNAP households while the rule is a proposal. The mistake to avoid is treating the headline as a cut that has already happened. Households should keep reporting changes and returning recertification forms on time, because missing paperwork can end benefits long before any federal rule does.
The recertification test that would come next
The 6.3 million figure is a projection about who would fail the federal limits, but the actual decision for each household would arrive at its next SNAP recertification. That is when a caseworker would apply the federal gross income line and the federal asset limit instead of a state’s looser standard, and a late or incomplete packet can close a case on its own.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer covers 51 state packs, a renewal document checklist and a renewal and reporting calendar for keeping each state’s dates and required papers in one place.
Look up the state renewal steps in The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer.
This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy against the Agriculture Department’s proposed rule and Food and Nutrition Service eligibility records.
Cole Whitaker focuses on the fundamentals of money management, helping readers make smarter decisions around income, spending, saving, and long-term financial stability. His writing emphasizes clarity, discipline, and practical systems that work in real life. At The Daily Overview, Cole breaks down personal finance topics into straightforward guidance readers can apply immediately.
