TOPEKA — A Kansas advocacy organization sounded an alarm about a report indicating 10,300 children in low-income families across the state stopped receiving food aid since President Donald Trump signed sweeping federal legislation nearly one year ago.
Kansas Appleseed, a nonpartisan organization active in state policy debates, highlighted the analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indicating 21,900 Kansans left the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program since July 2025.
Overall, the report released Wednesday says, enrollment in the Kansas SNAP program declined 12% since H.R. 1, or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was signed into law by Trump.
“These are not just abstract numbers. These are Kansas kids losing access to food,” said Haley Kottler, senior campaign director at Kansas Appleseed.
The bill passed the U.S. House 218-2014 and the U.S. Senate 51-50. In the House, it was opposed by Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, and supported by Kansas Republicans Derek Schmidt, Ron Estes and Tracey Mann. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall, both Kansas Republicans, also voted for the legislation.
H.R. 1 imposed work requirements for SNAP so that recipients 18 to 64 years of age needed to document that they work 20 hours each week to be eligible. In addition, the law required states to pay 75% of administrative costs for SNAP, up from 50%. The bill would cut national SNAP spending by an estimated $186 billion from 2025 to 2034.
In addition, the bill changed federal tax policy, increased the federal debt ceiling, boosted defense and immigration expenditures and cut funding to Medicaid while also targeting funds to rural hospitals.
“Our Republican majorities succeeded in our campaign promises to uproot wasteful spending … and deliver the largest tax cut for middle- and working-class families in American history,” Mann said when the bill was signed.
In May 2025, before implementation of the federal law, Kansas Action for Children reported 19.1% of Kansas children experienced food insecurity. In 42 of the state’s 105 counties, KAC said, more than 20% of children didn’t know where their next meal would come from.
Kottler, of Kansas Appleseed, said federal changes to SNAP elevated food nutrition challenges among Kansans and could undermine enrollment of students in K-12 school breakfast and lunch programs.
“In Kansas, this will mean more children falling through the cracks, more pressure on schools and food banks and greater hardship for families already struggling with high grocery and housing costs,” she said.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said SNAP participation among children fell by 700,000 in Kansas and the 11 other states analyzed. Losses for children represented half the decline of 1.6 million in all age categories within the 12 states, the center said.
This story previously appeared in the Kansas Reflector.
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