In Case You Missed It...

| By CBPP

This week at CBPP, we focused on food assistance and health.

On food assistance, Ty Jones Cox released a statement on the Senate farm bill proposal, noting that it ignores the worsening hunger crisis in the wake of the 2025 Republican megabill’s historic cuts to SNAP. Katie Bergh and Joseph Llobrera released analysis of new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data showing that the shift of significant new SNAP costs to states in the megabill may amount to about $9 billion, threatening benefits for millions of SNAP households. We updated our SNAP caseload tracker with the latest data that show SNAP participation nationwide fell by more than 4 million people (10 percent) between the harmful Republican megabill’s July 2025 enactment and March 2026.
On health, Nicole Rapfogel explained that health savings accounts (HSAs) do not make health care more affordable or easy to access for people with low to moderate incomes.

SNAP Participation Dropping Following Enactment of Harmful Republican Megabill

Source: CBPP calculations from USDA and state program data

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | cbpp.org

The Center was active on social media this week. Here are some of our posts:

Katie Bergh posted a thread to X and Bluesky on new data showing sharp declines in SNAP participation following the harmful Republican megabill’s changes to the program. Katie Bergh also posted a thread to X and Bluesky about new USDA data that confirm as many as 36 states could soon face significant new SNAP costs, increasing the risk of more families losing food assistance.
Will Fischer posted a thread to X and Bluesky on highlighting the need for expanding rental assistance alongside proposals like the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act that increase housing supply.
Sharon Parrott posted a thread to X and Bluesky on a proposed Trump Administration rule that would undermine fair, merit-based federal grantmaking and would allow corruption and politicization of grant award decisions.
Sarah Lueck posted a thread to X and Bluesky responding to the House Freedom Caucus' letter in favor of HSA expansion. Nicole Rapfogel posted a thread to Bluesky on five reasons why HSAs fail to address health care affordability for people with low and moderate incomes.
Shelby Gonzales posted a thread to X and Bluesky responding to two Supreme Court rulings, one that blocks people seeking asylum at the border and another that allows the Trump Administration to move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status for people from Haiti and Syria.

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts this week. Here are some of the highlights: