Federal food assistance changes could hit Kentucky hard

By Sarah Ladd
Kentucky Lantern

Nearly 600,000 Kentuckians got help buying food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in June, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

But the program, better known as SNAP, faces an uncertain future after Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping and controversial tax and spending package.

The Trump administration insists that it’s not cutting SNAP, but the new law makes “effectively still a ton of cuts through other changes,” said Robin Kunkel, the outreach coordinator for the Kentucky Equal Justice Center.

Changes to SNAP in the big budget bill have the potential to be a “huge hit to hungry people” in Kentucky, she said, as the number of people eligible for food benefits will decrease significantly.

Additionally, Kentucky would need to spend about an additional $250 million a year to fill gaps created by the changes Congress approved, according to Melissa McDonald, executive director of Feeding Kentucky, a statewide network of seven food banks.

During a July 10 meeting of Kentucky’s Make America Healthy Again task force, Roger McCann, the director of the state Division of Family Support, said Kentuckians received about $96 million in SNAP benefits in June. All those dollars came from the federal government, and the majority benefited children younger than 18.

What’s at stake? Child welfare, education and more

SNAP — and access to food in general — is a web that affects poverty, child wellbeing, economic growth and more, presenters said during the July meeting.

Department for Community Based Services Commissioner Lesa Dennis said that about 70% of all Child Protective Services allegations are related to neglect and poverty. Hunger, she said, causes familial stress and instability in the home.

“We know that poverty is not neglect,” she said. “Just because someone is poor does not mean that they are neglectful, but when we see unmet needs, such as lack of access to food, families … experiencing hunger, we see the increase in the risk of abuse and neglect.”

The budget bill that recently passed Congress with no Democratic votes cuts federal funding for SNAP Ed, a program that teaches families how to cook and budget that’s administered through the University of Kentucky, Dennis said.

SNAP Ed doesn’t offer benefits, only education, McCann said, and costs about $11 million to operate.

“It has been important because it helps build those healthy eating habits,” he said. “It’s cooking classes, it’s going out to schools and libraries and teaching people how to use fresh fruits and vegetables, and also how to do it on a budget.”

The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) hasn’t provided guidance on how to wind the program down or what could replace it, McCann said. Funding for that program ends Sept. 30, according to Dennis. They are hoping the state can continue some sort of education component.

“These are the things that make eating healthy the easy choice for folks,” McCann said. “Making sure that they have access to a SNAP retailer that has fresh fruits and vegetables in it, for example.”

Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, who co-chairs Kentucky’s MAHA task force, told reporters after the July meeting that nutrition education is important.

During the August meeting, she said, “We will dig into further detail about the education that is part of SNAP.” That meeting is scheduled for Aug. 20, and Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell is scheduled to speak.

“There are many components of education that are happening, but the presenters today acknowledged it’s complicated,” she said. “And we need to make it less complicated.”

Two components of SNAP that remain intact under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are the outreach and employment training programs.

Outreach is a 50-50 match program that’s administered through nonprofit organizations, such as food banks, that work with hungry people. Those nonprofits help guide people in applying for SNAP.

Employment Training will also continue, McCann, the cabinet’s family support director, said. This program involves offering job training and can be reimbursed up to 50% by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The best way to overcome food insecurity is through a job — or a better job,” he said. “And so the idea behind SNAP Employment Training is to help people who utilize SNAP become income ineligible — to have enough money that they’re no longer eligible, and they’re able to stabilize and no longer need that, and then, by resolving that food insecurity through income, they can eat better and have better nutrition.”

The numbers breakdown

Currently, the state splits the cost of administering SNAP 50-50 with the federal government. Starting Oct. 1, 2026, the ratio shifts, putting 75% of the cost on states, according to McDonald of Feeding Kentucky. The change will cost Kentucky $66 million, according to Dennis with the CHFS.

McCann said the cabinet is “currently evaluating that” shift in cost sharing.

Additionally, beginning in 2028, Kentucky will have to pay for its share of SNAP at a rate dependent on the rate of error in the state program.

Kentucky is looking at an additional $200 million, roughly, based on the 2024 error rate of nearly 10%.

In total, McDonald said, Kentucky would need to put up about $250 million to run the program annually.

It’s not clear what appetite the Republican-controlled General Assembly will have to provide that funding. Funke Frommeyer said the Senate Republican caucus hadn’t yet met to discuss it as of July 10, “and none of us really knew what would be the result of the bill.”

Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, who co-chairs the 2026–2028 Budget Preparation & Submission Committee, said state lawmakers are “closely examining recent changes” to SNAP “at the federal level to fully understand their potential impact on both Kentucky’s SNAP recipients and the agencies responsible for administering these benefits.”

“These federal modifications include expanded work requirements, as well as a new mandate that states assume financial responsibility for a portion of benefits that were issued in error,” Petrie said in a statement to the Lantern. “While these developments may present new challenges, our commitment to responsible budgeting remains unchanged.”

Kentucky took in nearly $16 billion in revenue for its General Fund during the fiscal year that ended June 30.

According to McCann:

• There were 280,771 active SNAP households in June. This number fluctuates each month.
• 562,105 individuals received SNAP benefits in June.
• $96 million worth of SNAP benefits went out in June, all from the federal government.
• The average SNAP household in Kentucky gets $343 a month.
• 39.28% of the folks that receive SNAP are under the age 18. In June, that was 220,000.
• 16% of Kentuckians receiving SNAP are 60 and older. In June, that was 91,000.

The ‘vicious cycle’ of hunger

Kentucky has millions of acres dedicated to farming and produces billions in agricultural products like corn and eggs. Still, people are hungry.

The 2025 Map the Meal Gap report, based on data from 2023, shows that about 70% of food-insecure Kentuckians fall within the threshold that qualifies them for SNAP benefits; about 30% are above it.

In total, 753,410 Kentuckians are food insecure, according to the report, meaning they’re not sure where their next meal will come from. Overall, nearly 17% of Kentuckians have some shortage of food.

Jordan Ojile, Feeding Kentucky’s advocacy manager, said these folks face “a chronic lack of nutrition that is secure, and this is concerning to us.”

“Food insecurity is a vicious cycle,” he told lawmakers during the July MAHA meeting. “It leads to a decrease in options and quality of your diet, which leads to a decrease in healthy behaviors when it comes to eating, which … does lead to chronic disease, which will ultimately lead to increase in health care expenditures, a decrease in employability, which will ultimately decrease your health income, which feeds into the snowball effect of increased food insecurity.”

Kentuckians spend their SNAP benefits at nearly 5,000 convenience stores, farmers, grocery stores, supermarkets, some pharmacies and super stores, according to the cabinet.

“SNAP  is not just there to benefit the people who receive it,” Kunkel told the Lantern. “It’s also a huge influx of federal money that comes into our state.”

It also better positions schools to buy local meat and dairy, supporting farmers and feeding children high-quality food.

Steve McClain, spokesman for the Kentucky Retail Federation, said it’s “too early to tell” the full impact of SNAP changes on grocery stores in the state.

“The Kentucky Grocers and Convenience Store Association is closely monitoring the potential impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on SNAP benefits in the commonwealth,” McClain said in a statement. “We recognize the significant role that SNAP benefits play in food security for Kentucky families, financial stability for local grocers and overall economic stability for our communities — and will continue collaborating with federal and state officials as we move toward the act’s full implementation.”

Looking to 2026: ‘Protect those that are hungry.’

McDonald, of Feeding Kentucky, said she wants to see Kentucky lawmakers make a commitment to continue SNAP, through legislation and/or the budget in 2026.

“We need to make sure that SNAP will be protected. There needs to be something that is put into place to guarantee that our lawmakers in Kentucky are going to protect those that are hungry,” she said. “There’s going to have to be a level of commitment from our legislators and from the budget to show … that there will still be a SNAP program, and here’s what it’s going to look like.”

So much is at stake — children losing access to free meals, increased hunger-induced stress, worse education outcomes and more, Kunkel said.

“When your local economy takes a hit, and your local food producers take a hit, we all suffer,” she said. “I do well when my neighbor’s doing well…I don’t think we have been creating policy or state budgets to really acknowledge that.”