NH Hunger Solutions Analysis: Federal SNAP Cuts to Devastate NH Residents

"A new federal law, passed by republicans in Congress and signed by President Trump, severely cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. This will deeply harm thousands of New Hampshire residents who rely on SNAP for food. NH Hunger Solutions (NHHS) strongly condemns these changes and highlights their severe impact on low-income families below. See our statement here.

Key Harms to New Hampshire:

New Hampshire Saddled with Huge New Costs:

• Administrative Costs: Starting October 1, 2026, New Hampshire will pay 75% of SNAP's operating costs, up from 50%. This means at least $5.75 million more per year for the state (1), potentially leading to fewer staff and slower service for families.
• Food Benefit Costs: Starting October 1, 2027, New Hampshire may have to pay a share of SNAP food benefits if the state's error rate (over or underpayment errors due to state or recipient error (not fraud)) is 6% or higher. New Hampshire's FFY24 error rate was 7.57%. The cost share is likely to be between 5-15% of benefits which would cost $8-$23 million extra annually (2). This could force NH to make deep cuts, substantially increasing poverty in our state, or to abandon SNAP altogether.  It would certainly reduce the federal benefits flowing to the state, harming SNAP's ability to stimulate NH's local economies during tough economic times (3). 

Legal Immigrants Barred from Food Aid:

• Most immigrants with humanitarian protections will immediately lose SNAP eligibility.(Undocumented immigrants were never eligible for SNAP). This abandons a long-standing commitment to people fleeing danger and will cut food aid for U.S. citizen children of these immigrant families. This will be effective as soon as federal guidance is released and states can implement it.

Harsh and Ineffective Work Rules Expand:

• Prior SNAP law imposed  a 3-month SNAP benefit limit within a 3-year period for adults ages 18-55 unless they met strict work requirements or exemptions.  
• This change puts thousands of New Hampshire families at risk of losing needed food support through SNAP. Research has consistently shown that such work-reporting rules do not increase employment Instead, they create new layers of administrative red tape- making it harder for people who are working to prove it, and cutting off support for people who aren't working because they can't (due to age, disability, or because they're providing care for others, etc.) (4). These will be effective as soon as federal guidance is released and states can implement them.
• Waivers from the work requirement in high unemployment areas are also severely restricted in the new law (to unemployment rates above 10%), meaning that even when there are no jobs available, people will lose access to SNAP if they are unemployed.

SNAP Benefits Will Shrink:

• The new law stops future updates to how SNAP benefits are calculated, effectively freezing amounts (besides basic inflation adjustments). SNAP benefits are already too low ( the average SNAP benefit only covers 33% of a modestly priced meal in NH) (5). This will make SNAP grants increasingly insufficient, cutting about $15 per person per month nationally by 2034 (6), affecting all 48,000 New Hampshire SNAP households.

Utility Deductions Limited; Internet Deductions Removed:

• The law restricts utility deductions to households with older adults or people with disabilities, and bars internet costs from SNAP calculations. This raises burdens for state staff and lowers benefits for low-wage families struggling with high utility bills and makes internet access harder. This will be effective as soon as federal guidance is released and states can implement.

SNAP Nutrition Education Eliminated:

• Funding for New Hampshire's SNAP-Ed program will be cut starting October 1, 2025.  This $1.18 million program will be eliminated, harming thousands of Granite Staters who receive vital nutrition education. SNAP-Ed is unique; it teaches healthy eating, partners with local food programs like Granite State Market Match (doubling SNAP dollars at farmers' markets), and supports the state's economy by promoting healthier residents and local farmers. Its elimination will reduce health, worsen food security, and weaken economic benefits for New Hampshire.

Cuts to SNAP also negatively impact other nutrition programs. Because SNAP receipt automatically makes children eligible for free or reduced-price school meals and summer EBT, children will lose those direct connections.

You can see a summary of the timeline that these changes will take effect here."