Every autumn, state agencies that run the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program adjust a lesser-known figure that quietly shapes what a household actually receives: the standard utility allowance used to estimate heating, cooling and phone costs. Most SNAP households never have a real utility bill weighed against their case file; the flat allowance stands in for…

A federal guidance memorandum from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has settled a question that left state food-stamp offices in an awkward spot after Congress rewrote the program’s work rules in 2025: an adult between 60 and 64 who receives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits cannot be ordered into a mandatory job-training placement to keep…

A federal food-assistance rule that got dramatically stricter this year just picked up an important carve-out for one specific group of households. Under the sweeping tax and spending law signed in July 2025, adult recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program face a tougher three-month limit on benefits unless they can show they are working…

Most working-age adults on Medicaid will need to log a job, schooling, volunteer work or a qualifying paycheck once the program’s new community engagement requirement takes effect on January 1, 2027. From the start, the law creating that requirement exempted people who are seriously ill, disabled or in recovery from addiction, but states had almost…

Millions of households that receive food assistance do their everyday shopping at a corner store or small neighborhood market rather than a large supermarket chain. A federal rule taking effect on November 4, 2026 sets new minimum stocking requirements for any retailer that wants to keep accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Stores that fall…

The federal government has finished tallying how much of last year’s food-assistance spending went out in the wrong amount, and the number is stark: more than one in every ten dollars. Beginning as soon as October 2027, the states with the worst records will start covering part of that cost themselves, a shift that could…

Grocery runs are about to look different for thousands of households in Virginia and Montana. Within the next three weeks, shoppers using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in both states will find that sodas, energy drinks, and other sugary items no longer scan as eligible purchases at checkout. The change comes from a federal waiver…

A federal exemption that has shielded low-income parents from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program work rules for years just got narrower. Adults caring for a dependent child used to keep their exemption from SNAP’s work requirement and time limit as long as that child was younger than 18. Under a 2025 law reshaping food-assistance rules, that…

The number of Americans receiving food assistance through the federal government fell sharply over the past year, according to new participation data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dropped by more than five and a half million people between May 2025 and May 2026, one of the…

When the Department of Veterans Affairs decides to reduce a veteran’s monthly disability check, federal regulation requires that the veteran get a warning first, with real time to respond before the money changes. A government watchdog review just found that guarantee failing far more often than it should. Looking at cases closed in 2024, investigators…