The end of the government shutdown meant food stamp benefits were restored for millions across the U.S., but about 36,000 Connecticut residents are still at risk of losing access to food assistance due to new eligibility requirements outlined in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Advocates worry the change will mean more families will go hungry, and health officials warn of the dangers of malnutrition and food insecurity. The people affected represent about 10% of the state’s residents who receive benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Some organizations are asking state lawmakers to set up ongoing aid for people affected by the policy shift who will no longer qualify for SNAP under the new law.
“When you’ve got a family who are looking at a budget that doesn’t work — their income doesn’t balance with their expenses — they start saying, ‘What can we squeeze?’ Rent is what it is, you have no power to negotiate health insurance premiums, the cost of gas is what it is. One area where families have some flexibility to squeeze a budget down is food,” said Lisa Tepper Bates, president and CEO of the United Way of Connecticut.
“They’re going to look for the cheapest options. They don’t have the luxury to look for the most nutritious food for their kids. They look for the cheapest volume of food for the dollar, and that is going to breed all sorts of problems.”
The cuts to food assistance in H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will directly affect about 36,000 immigrants, young adults, veterans and people experiencing homelessness due to new, stricter work requirements for SNAP benefits or other changes. They are expected to lose coverage between Dec. 1 and March 31.
“We’re going to have a whole lot of people who don’t have access to the food they need to stay healthy,” said Sara Parker McKernan, policy advocate for New Haven Legal Assistance. “People are going to eat as frugally as they can, which means a lot of really inexpensive foods that they’re able to buy because they don’t have the advantage of SNAP anymore.”
A call for action
With many poised to lose benefits, advocates are asking elected officials to create a state-funded food assistance program to fill the gap.
Since at least the 1990s, Connecticut had a state-financed food stamp program for legal immigrants who otherwise would have been eligible for the federal program but were excluded by welfare reform legislation in 1996. The legislature in August 2016 directed the state Department of Social Services to stop adding people to the program, though the initiative was funded through 2017, officials with DSS said.
In September, representatives with Greater Hartford Legal Aid, New Haven Legal Assistance and Connecticut Legal Services sent a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont and Democratic legislative leaders asking them to, among other things, establish a state-funded food assistance program for previously eligible legal immigrants and others who may lose SNAP benefits.
“We urge you to address the imminent harm to low-income CT residents that cuts to SNAP in H.R. 1 are poised to inflict. Our low-income clients depend on SNAP benefits to feed themselves and their families and depend on information and resources provided by DSS to access those benefits,” six people with those organizations wrote.
They asked that the issue be addressed in a special session that was held earlier this month, though lawmakers declined to do so. In recent interviews, advocates urged legislators to make it a priority in the regular session that begins in February.
“There is history of [a state-financed program], and we would like to see that again — a new program that essentially picks up all the folks who are no longer eligible for exemptions,” McKernan said. “We’re talking about folks who have been physical laborers their entire life, and all of a sudden, they’re getting to the stage where their bodies are giving out and they can no longer compete with younger workers. We’re talking about folks who have raised their kids or grandkids and now have an empty house and no work history. They may have kids over the age of 14, but they can’t act in that caretaker role and get SNAP.
“There are a lot of reasons why people can’t compete in the job market, and for those who are competing, the work requirements are going to be difficult, because they may have no control over their schedules or the amount of money they’re going to be making.”
H.R. 1 imposes a work requirement on adults 55 through 64 and parents with children 14 and older for the first time. It removes exemptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness and young people who recently aged out of foster care — exemptions that were added in bipartisan legislation in 2023, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities. Recipients must now document 20 hours of work per week, participate in a narrow set of work activities or prove they qualify for another exemption.
The bill also ends eligibility for many immigrants living lawfully in the U.S. who have been granted humanitarian protection by the federal government, including refugees, people granted asylum and certain survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking.
Sen. Matthew Lesser, a Democrat from Middletown who is co-chair of the Human Services Committee, said he and his colleagues are interested in exploring a state-funded food assistance program. Launching such an initiative would require money and software upgrades to run it, he said.
“At a time when the federal government is increasingly an unreliable partner, it’s important that we maintain the capacity to feed the residents of this state,” Lesser said. “Every week we find out new critical problems with changes in federal policy that are really hammering low-income people, and we have to figure out what the priorities are. I would argue that food, shelter and health care are all key priorities, food probably first among them.”
House Speaker Matthew Ritter, D-Hartford, pointed to a $500 million emergency fund authorized during the special session this month as one way to help residents losing access to SNAP.
“This is an example of what the fund could be used for,” he said. “Obviously, the governor has a lot of discretion, and we have to vote on it. If the governor were to come to us and say, ‘I’d like to help out these folks who are getting kicked off SNAP,’ I would support that.”
Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, added: “I would support anything that helps us fill in some of the federal cuts, especially regarding food assistance. … To the extent that there are still gaps and problems with access to needed food, I would certainly be supportive if the governor proposes using some of the money set up in that $500 million fund.”
But Ritter warned that funding the program long-term could be too costly.
“The cuts to H.R. 1, if unchanged, by 2028 are billions of dollars, and the state does not have the ability to cover that. No state will,” he said. “But in the short term, while we see what happens in Washington, we have a fund set up to try to help people through that year.”
A spokesman for Lamont said the governor is still reviewing how to use money in the emergency fund.
“The administration is reviewing how best to utilize the $500 million reserve,” the spokesman, Rob Blanchard, said. “We will be announcing actions in the near future.”
Tong, 21 other attorneys general sue over SNAP eligibility guidance
Attorney General William Tong announced Wednesday that he and 21 other attorneys general are suing the federal government, seeking to block new guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that deems some immigrants ineligible for food assistance even after they become permanent residents.
In October, the USDA issued new guidance to state agencies describing changes to SNAP eligibility under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Tong said the memo incorrectly asserted that all individuals who entered the country through certain pathways — including refugees, asylum recipients and others — would remain permanently ineligible for SNAP, even after obtaining green cards and becoming lawful permanent residents. The attorneys general argue the guidance contradicts federal law and could impose large financial penalties on states.
“The Trump Administration cannot help themselves. They are messing with SNAP benefits again. This time they are inventing their own rules to permanently ban legal immigrants — green card holders — from ever receiving food stamps,” Tong said in a statement. “There is zero basis in the law for this cruel move, and we’re suing to stop them
Nutrition experts share dangers of malnutrition, food insecurity
As many families brace for the loss of assistance, nutrition experts and health officials warn of malnutrition concerns and the mental health effects of food insecurity.
When people tighten their budgets, they often go without meat and fresh fruit and vegetables. Many cut down on the number of items they purchase or buy more highly processed foods that are shelf stable and last longer, experts said.
That can lead to iron deficiency, fatigue, unintentional weight loss, thinning of the bones, weakness, hair loss and brittle nails, among other symptoms. In children, it can cause developmental delays, trouble concentrating and behavioral problems.
“Malnutrition is always associated with increased health risks,” said Lora Silver, a registered dietician with Yale New Haven Health. “It’s often associated with an inflammatory state or inflammatory activity.
“We have really clear evidence that malnutrition leads to an increased risk of infections. It impairs our immune function. It also puts us at risk for loss of lean muscle mass, and there’s a host of consequences to that, because it impacts our strength, balance and our ability to avoid falls.”
Some families might lean toward purchasing foods that are calorie-dense to maintain their caloric intake but that aren’t nutrient-dense, experts said. That can lead to conditions like obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
“When I was working full-time running a shelter for families experiencing homelessness, this is the part of their budget where they were looking to spend as little as possible so they could maximize what they had for rent,” Tepper Bates said. “What that meant was often, for a family with two small kids, they’re buying a 10-pound bag of white rice and five pounds of the cheapest hamburger meat they can find, and that’s going to be the basis of their food for the week. That is simply not adequate nutrition.”
Health officials say they encourage people to look toward plant-based protein sources, such as beans, legumes and tofu, that might be less costly, and frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, particularly those with less additives.
“I don’t ever tell people they shouldn’t be eating canned vegetables, because if that’s what they can afford, canned vegetables are better than no vegetables,” said Diane Bussolini, a registered dietician with Trinity Health of New England. “Frozen and canned are absolutely fine.
“Also, [I recommend] buying fruits that are in season. So right now, that’s not watermelon, peaches or cherries. It’s spending food dollars on things like apples and pears and mandarins that are in season and lower costs.”
Stress and anxiety often accompany food insecurity, health officials said, and while adults may be managing the money and purchases, children also feel the effects.
“We know that children are more aware of what’s going on in their house than sometimes parents realize. Kids recognize they don’t have enough food, or that parents are stressed out,” said Dr. Jody Terranova, a pediatrician and former president of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “There are some increased awareness and distress in children, some increase in anxiety, and in older children, there’s an increase in depression and suicidal symptoms that has been associated with food insufficiency.”
Representatives of the Connecticut Chapter of AAP issued a statement this month saying maintaining access to SNAP benefits is “critical” for the health and well-being of the state’s children.
“We urge the state of Connecticut to protect all children by prioritizing and ensuring access to essential services — starting with maintaining the food services they need to survive and thrive in school and at home,” they wrote. “Food is essential for health. Regardless of … H.R. 1 provisions, we have a duty to ensure continued access to SNAP.”
Health officials also called for more awareness of the mental health consequences of food insecurity.
“We see news reports on the prevalence of reliance on SNAP, or the prevalence of certain budget cuts and the price of food going up,” Silver said. “I wish we were talking more about some way of measuring worry and anxiety, because there are real health impacts to that, and I think adults and children experience that alike.”
Original article found on CT Mirror.