November 10 — Today, the administration proposed a rule to eliminate Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE) for SNAP benefits, dismantling a system that streamlines applications and eases the administrative burden for our most vulnerable neighbors. If enacted, this change is expected to strip SNAP benefits from 6.3 million Americans.
Jenique Jones, Executive Director of WhyHunger – a global nonprofit working to end world hunger and the injustices that cause it – issued the following statement:
“Today the Trump administration proposed a rule that would take food off the tables of at least 6.3 million more Americans. It carries a technical name: eliminating Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility, or BBCE. So let me say it plainly. This is not reform. This is a benefit cut dressed up as paperwork.
For more than 20 years, BBCE has let states streamline SNAP for households already eligible for other assistance. More than 40 states and the District of Columbia use it. It means less red tape for families, lower administrative costs for states, and fewer people falling through the cracks. It helps the working parent whose wages can’t keep up with rent. The grandmother on a fixed income. The family living where everything costs more.
Congress just rejected these same cuts, and more than 183,000 people opposed this move when the administration tried it in 2019. Yet here it is again, after H.R. 1 has already pushed more than 5.5 million people off SNAP since last July. The harm reaches past the grocery store: children who lose SNAP will lose automatic access to free school meals, and families with babies will find WIC harder to reach.
Let’s be clear about what this rule does not do. It does not reduce hunger. It does not improve program integrity. It does not make a single family more food secure. It simply moves the cost of hunger off the federal ledger and onto food banks, pantries, school cafeterias, and families.
At WhyHunger, we stand alongside grassroots organizations, farmers, and community food programs already stretched past capacity. I hear it in every conversation: the lines are longer, the shelves are emptier, the need is deeper. Charity cannot fill a hole this size. It was never meant to. Food is a human right, and SNAP is one of the strongest tools this country has to honor it.
The administration has given the public just 30 days to respond. That is not enough time for families, advocates, and state agencies to weigh in on a change this sweeping. So let’s use every one of those 30 days. Submit a public comment. Tell your story. Share what SNAP means in your community. Call on your governor and your state SNAP agency to go on record. In 2019, 183,000 voices stood up.
Hunger in America is not inevitable. It is a policy choice. This rule is a choice, too. So is how we answer it.”
For anyone struggling to make ends meet, please visit whyhunger.org/FindFood, call the WhyHunger Hotline at 1(800) 5-HUNGRY, or text your zip code to 1-800-548-6479 to get connected to emergency food services in your community.
About WhyHunger
Founded in 1975 by the late Harry Chapin and radio DJ Bill Ayres, WhyHunger funds and supports community solutions to protect the human right to food. In nearly five decades of innovation and evolution, our programs and our grassroots partners in 25 countries have expanded agricultural practices that are better for the planet, helped communities address the root causes of hunger, and ensured access to nutritious food for millions of people. As a grassroots support organization, we stand behind the leadership of the people most impacted by hunger and injustice. We prioritize providing resources to support the rights of communities who have been historically excluded from defining and controlling their food systems. We advocate for workers’ rights and champion agroecological food production that unites science and sustainability with Indigenous knowledge and wisdom. Together we can build socially and economically just food systems that nourish all people and the environment.
Learn more at whyhunger.org and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X and TikTok.
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