Introduction
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, is a government program that provides money to low-income families to buy food to help those families access the nutritious food that is essential to health and well-being. About 39% of SNAP recipients are children under 18. There is strong evidence that SNAP lifts families out of poverty, reduces food insecurity, and lowers health care costs. The Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025, included the largest cuts to SNAP in the program’s history. Over 41 million people benefit from SNAP, and the changes to the program have caused confusion and stress for people across the country who are afraid they may not be able to feed their families.
A4SC Resources
The below resources include relevant videos and lesson plans from our content library that will help contextualize this current event within broader, more enduring, concepts.
Department of Health and Human Services: More than just Medicine! – This video explains the role and responsibilities of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes overseeing SNAP.
Social Determinants of Health: Beyond Biology – This video explains the impact of economic and other factors upon individual health, including access to adequate food.
Discussion Questions
- Many states are now banning the purchase of junk food and/or sugary drinks using SNAP benefits. Do you think it’s fair for the government to limit what foods people can buy with assistance benefits? What reasons may support or challenge this idea?
- If a family suddenly lost access to SNAP benefits, what other resources might they turn to? What gaps might exist?
- What do you think would happen in your community if a program that helped millions of families buy food suddenly stopped for a month?
Activity
Divide students into 4 groups. Each group gets one policy change to analyze using the questions below. Groups should answer the questions from the perspective of a news reporter writing a fair, factual story.
Policy changes to analyze:
Group 1: The 2025 government shutdown paused SNAP benefits for millions of people for several weeks.
Group 2: States will now pay 75% of SNAP administrative costs (up from 50%).
Group 3: The work requirement age for able-bodied adults was raised to 65.
Group 4: States can now restrict SNAP from being used to buy certain foods like candy and sugary drinks.
Questions for each group:
- What changed? Describe the policy change in your own words.
- Who is affected, and how? Think about families, state governments, food banks, grocery stores, etc.
- What is one argument for this change, and one argument against?
Reflection questions:
What is the role of state government vs. the federal government in programs like this?
Were any of these changes surprising to you? Why?
What does it mean when a government program gets caught up in a shutdown? Who decides what is ‘essential’?
Additional Resources
- “Explainer: Understanding the SNAP program – and what cuts to these benefits may mean,” Harvard Kennedy School, 10 November 2025.
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/social-policy/explainer-understanding-snap-program-and-what-cuts - Bergh, Rosenbaum, and Tharpe. “House Reconciliation Bill Proposes Deepest SNAP Cut in History, Would Take Food Assistance Away From Millions of Low-Income Families,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 28 May 2025
https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/house-reconciliation-bill-proposes-deepest-snap-cut-in-history-would-take - Stauffer, Rainesford. “It’s How Millions of Americans Afford Food. Trump Has Thrown It Into Chaos. The Toll is Bigger Than You Realize,” Slate, 16 April 2026.
https://slate.com/business/2026/04/trump-food-assistance-snap-benefits-anxiety-depression.html
Keep Learning with A4SC
At A4SC, we empower students through interdisciplinary curricula to become informed, compassionate, and action-oriented leaders who are capable of addressing the pressing challenges of today and tomorrow. Keep exploring our library of 400+ videos.