food insufficiency

State lawmakers must soon decide whether to cover the extra costs to provide food assistance. If they don’t, food banks and pantries alone can’t make up the difference.

State lawmakers must soon decide whether to cover the extra costs to provide food assistance. If they don’t, food banks and pantries alone can’t make up the difference.

While Oklahoma is looking to restrict candy and soft drinks from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the federal government is making changes of its own through President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill Act. The state's waiver has not been approved yet, but federal changes would impact its rollout.

President Donald Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' shifts more Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program costs to states. Lawmakers and officials in support of the new measure say it will cut down on waste and fraud, but food advocates warn it could mean fewer people receiving the benefit.

Thirty-eight states already participate in the Summer EBT program, which gives eligible families $120 per child for the summer. Texas is set to administer it starting in 2027.

The Trump Administration is asking states to more closely watch the citizenship status of people receiving benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But some advocates for immigrant families worry the messaging could hurt people who are eligible for the food assistance.

This month, Kansas received a letter from the federal government that demanded "unfettered access to comprehensive data from all State programs that receive federal funding," including Social Security numbers and personal addresses of SNAP recipients.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins gave a first-ever approval for a state to restrict what's covered by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during a visit to Nebraska this week. Other states, including Kansas, Iowa and Indiana, are seeking similar waivers.

People are flocking to backyard chickens this year, in part due to the sky-high cost of eggs at the grocery store. Some first-timers have turned to chicken rentals to try out ownership for a few months.

Thousands of schools, farmers and food pantries in the Midwest and Great Plains planned on federal dollars over the next year to support local food purchases. And then the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut the programs.