More Hungry People, Less State Money: Impacts from the OBBB SNAP Cuts

Access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food options is a key component to making sure Virginia families have what they need for good health. When families are paid too little to afford healthy food, programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) play a critical role in helping families meet their basic needs. Yet, as many families struggle to make ends meet, Republican leaders in Congress spearheaded the passage of a bill that will reduce or eliminate food assistance to about 850,000 people in Virginia and reduce state resources. (Estimates on H.R. 1’s impact on food assistance below.)

The GOP reconciliation bill, which they titled One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), was recently signed into law and will make it harder for about 850,000 people in Virginia to afford to buy healthy food by cutting up to $187 billion in overall SNAP funding nationally over the next 10 years. Included in the bill are onerous work reporting requirements that increase paperwork-related barriers to accessing benefits, dissuade people from applying for the program, and make burdensome administrative changes that will further put a strain on local Department of Social Services (DSS) offices’ resources. It is now up to Virginia state lawmakers to mitigate the impacts of these harmful cuts, protect access to food, and advance policies that will help all families thrive.

SNAP Provides Critical Support to Virginia Families

From 2021 to 2023, on average, 1 in 10 Virginia households were “food insecure,” meaning that their access to adequate food was limited by a lack of money and other resources. SNAP reduces food insecurity, creating greater access to food for people across the commonwealth. According to the Virginia Department of Social Services, this July, the SNAP program was used by more than 173,000 people in Central Virginia, almost 230,000 people in eastern Virginia, including Hampton Roads, about 216,000 people in Northern Virginia, and over 245,000 people in the Piedmont and western regions of Virginia. 

SNAP effectively helps a wide variety of families pay for their most basic needs:

• More than 1 in 3 people who receive SNAP benefits are in families with older adults or people with disabilities, according to CBPP analysis of 2022 USDA data.
• SNAP particularly helps families in rural communities. Almost 1 in 7 households living in areas outside one of Virginia’s metros reported that they had received food assistance from SNAP at some point in the past year, compared to 1 in 13 households living in a metro area, according to 2019-2023 Census data. Because people usually under-report to surveyors whether they get things like SNAP, the actual number of people in each type of area who benefit from SNAP is likely higher than reported.
• Over 120,000 Black households in Virginia reported receiving SNAP to help pay for food, according to 2024 Census data. That’s about 1 in every 5 Black households in our state.
• About 4 in 5 families who receive SNAP had someone working in the last year, according to 2024 Census data.
• Nearly 35,000 Virginia veterans live in households that receive SNAP benefits, according to 2023 Census data.
• SNAP makes a real difference, lifting an average of 104,000 people in Virginia above the poverty line each year between 2015 and 2019.

Families with children who are struggling to make ends meet — who make up 2 out of every 3 Virginia households that use SNAP to help buy food — typically receive $506 a month in SNAP benefits. That’s money that makes a real difference for families, leading to fewer problems down the road. Children whose families receive SNAP are more likely to graduate from high school and have lower rates of health risks after their families received help buying food.

Federal Cuts, Paperwork, and Barriers

By deliberately making future food cost calculations less accurate, the OBBB bill will take money out of the pocket of every Virginia family who gets help paying for food, making it harder to make ends meet at the end of the month. The GOP law also imposes new eligibility restrictions, which further limit access, including expanding harsh work requirements to families who are currently exempt because they have teenage children, live in areas with few available jobs, or are at an age when working many jobs becomes physically impossible. The bill also ends current exemptions to work reporting requirements for military veterans, former foster care youth, and those experiencing homelessness. These new paperwork requirements will put at least 78,000 people in Virginia at risk of losing some or all food assistance because they live in families where at least one adult is subject to the new requirements. (More estimates on H.R. 1’s impact on food assistance below.)

Access to healthy food is important for the healthy development of every child in every family. Yet the new law also removes all help from many lawful present individuals, including refugees, people who have been granted asylum, and victims of certain serious crimes (people without lawful residency are already ineligible for SNAP). Removing access to healthy food adds to the threats that our immigrant neighbors face and is a barrier to fully participating in and contributing to prosperous communities. Lawmakers should make sure that all families — including immigrant families — have access to the resources they need to thrive.

The GOP bill will also shift between $89 million and $352 million of federal costs onto the state of Virginia. At Virginia’s current “error rate” for SNAP payment calculations, it would be at the top of that range — $352 million — equal to the average salary of over 5,000 public school teachers. State lawmakers will face limited options — including cutting benefits or kicking people off of SNAP, opting out of SNAP entirely, reallocating resources from other community priorities such as education or health care, or raising new revenue — making it harder for Virginia to meet the needs of its residents. Along with slashing SNAP, the Trump administration further limited access by eliminating over $1 billion in funding for programs focused on bringing farm-fresh meals to students and families. Food banks are already struggling to meet the growing demand for adequate food access. Gutting these programs only further strains their ability to provide services for people in need.

Looking Ahead

SNAP is an effective and targeted program that helps families put food on the table, which is especially critical as families struggle with the cost of living. Leaders in Congress rushed through legislation to make major cuts and add red tape to this vital program. For Virginia families who need help accessing and paying for healthy food, the changes are alarming. These changes haven’t gone into effect yet, and people should continue to access the help they need to provide for themselves and their families. Looking ahead, state lawmakers should prioritize investments in programs that mitigate the harm of federal choices, help families meet their basic needs, and make Virginia a place where everyone can thrive — no exceptions.

Data Note: Estimating H.R. 1 Impacts on Food Assistance in Virginia

H.R.1 (OBBB) will reduce or eliminate food assistance for hundreds of thousands of people in Virginia. Exactly how many will lose access depends on how Virginia implements the new restrictions and whether the state does everything it can to help families navigate the new obstacle course. Yet no matter what Virginia does, changes to the Thrifty Food Plan will reduce benefits for all families who receive food assistance, and many families will be harmed by the new restrictions for certain lawfully present immigrants and work reporting requirements. Below is a summary of high-quality estimates of the impacts in Virginia:

Number of people and families who will lose some or all benefits: 

• About 850,000 people and 445,000 families currently get help paying for food through SNAP and will lose some or all benefits
• Sources: TCI analysis of H.R.1 bill text impact on the Thrifty Food Plan and Virginia DSS reports on SNAP recipiency. In July 2025, 444,114 Virginia households, which included 863,138 people, received SNAP benefits, but this number fluctuates some month-to-month and year-to-year. Similarly, Urban Institute estimated in July 2025 that 447,000 families will lose at least some benefits.

Number of families who will lose at least $25 a month in benefits:

• 91,000 families in Virginia, including 73,000 families with children and 66,000 working families, will lose at least $25 a month in benefits
• Source: Urban Institute, How the Senate Budget Reconciliation SNAP Proposals Will Affect Families in Every US State: A Summary of Preliminary Research Findings, July 2025

Number of people who are at risk of losing benefits due to newly expanded work reporting requirements:

• At least 47,000 people in Virginia are at risk of losing all their SNAP benefits due to the newly expanded work reporting requirements. This does not include the additional people who will lose food assistance because of new restrictions on waivers for high unemployment areas and the elimination of current exemptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and youth who have aged out of foster care.
• At least 78,000 people in Virginia are at risk of losing all or a significant share of their food assistance because they live in a household where at least one person is subject to the new work reporting hurdles. This does not include the additional impacts noted above.
• Source: CBPP, Senate Agriculture Committee’s Revised Work Requirement Would Risk Taking Away Food Assistance From More Than 5 Million People: State Estimates, June 27, 2025

Number of veterans who will lose some or all benefits: 

• Nearly 35,000 veterans live in households that currently get help paying for food through SNAP and will lose some or all benefits
• Sources: TCI analysis of OBBB bill text impact on the Thrifty Food Plan and 2023 ACS microdata on SNAP recipiency by veteran status accessed through IPUMS.