The Agriculture Department proposed a rule on Nov. 10 that would end broad-based categorical eligibility for SNAP and remove about 6.3 million people from the program in fiscal 2029, according to the proposed rule. The SNAP rule would cut federal food benefits by about $44.6 billion over five years.
That is about $8.9 billion a year, a calculation from the rule’s five-year figure. USDA calls the change a matter of program integrity. Its own regulatory analysis shows the savings come from removing eligible households whose incomes or assets sit above the federal limits, and it does not put a fraud figure on the change.
What Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility Does
Broad-based categorical eligibility, known as BBCE, lets a household qualify for SNAP automatically if it receives any benefit funded by the federal TANF program. States use it to raise SNAP’s gross income limit from the federal standard of 130% of the poverty line to as high as 200%, and to loosen or drop asset tests. The rule says 46 states used BBCE as of December 2025. Thirty-seven have gross income limits above the federal standard, and 41 have no resource limit at all.
The rule would limit automatic eligibility to households that receive TANF “assistance,” which is mostly cash. USDA says BBCE “may threaten the integrity of the program,” and it gives an example: the TANF-funded benefit that confers SNAP eligibility today can be “an informational pamphlet or 800-number.” That is the department’s strongest point, and it is a fair one.
Who Loses SNAP under the Rule
USDA estimates that about 3.2 million households and 6.3 million people would lose benefits in fiscal 2029. That is 17.6% of participants, which implies a program of about 35.8 million people, a calculation from the two figures. More than 840,000 one- and two-person households received the minimum benefit in 2024 only because of BBCE, the rule says. States would pay to process the change. The rule estimates state administrative costs would rise about $928.5 million, with the federal government covering about $309.5 million of that.
What Happens to Free School Meals
About 1.78 million children would lose automatic eligibility for free school meals. The rule’s own breakdown shows about 1.66 million would still qualify for free meals by income, about 93,000 would move to reduced-price meals and about 28,000 would pay full price. About 42,000 children could lose Summer EBT starting in 2029. By USDA’s numbers, about 97% of those children still qualify, a calculation from the rule’s figures. For most of their families the change means a new application, and for the households losing SNAP it means a smaller grocery budget.
Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, said the rule would not meet its stated goal. “Eliminating BBCE does nothing to reduce hunger, and it doesn’t improve program integrity,” she said in a statement. “We urge the administration to rescind this proposed rule.” The public can comment through regulations.gov under docket FNA-2026-0661. Comments are due 30 days after the rule’s Nov. 10 publication, on Dec. 10.
