What kind of Missouri do we want to live in?
One where every child starts each school day with a full stomach, ready to learn and grow. Where retirees can stretch their fixed incomes to cover both medicine and meals. Where families don’t have to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table. We can build that Missouri together, and it starts with making sure everyone has access to healthy food.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) serves as the state’s largest and most effective nutrition food program, reaching 1 in every 9 Missourians. Among those it serves are 20% of Missouri’s children and 43% of eligible older adults. SNAP is more than just food – it gives people the freedom to focus on work, go to school, and spend time with loved ones. Unfortunately, Missourians who use SNAP to supplement their food budget may soon find those benefits more difficult to obtain.
Drastic cuts to the SNAP program, as well as other social safety net programs such as Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), have been proposed and voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives and are now being considered in the Senate as part of the budget reconciliation process that is approaching its apex. These cuts will lead to massive economic and administrative challenges for states like Missouri and a critical loss of benefits for many residents. Children, older adults, and those living in rural areas will face disproportionately severe impacts.
The proposed SNAP cuts aim to shrink the program and reduce benefits in multiple ways. First, they would increase work requirements for SNAP participants, even though most people on SNAP work. Work requirements ignore the realities of low-wage labor, caregiving responsibilities, and transportation barriers while creating additional administrative burden on participants and the state. In states like Missouri that use less automation in the benefits enrollment process, adding more paperwork requirements that must be individually reviewed by state staff with limited capacity will cause more working families to lose their SNAP benefits due to processing issues. Nationally, new work requirements would eliminate food assistance for nearly 3 million people, including 2 million families who are already working for at least part of the year.
Another change proposed in the House would shift SNAP program costs to the states. At present, the federal government pays for all SNAP benefits, while states pay half of the comparatively smaller administrative costs of the program. Last year, the federal government paid 97% of the total SNAP costs in Missouri. Under the House proposal, that formula would change. For the first time, states will pay a portion of the SNAP benefits disbursed in their state up to a maximum of 15% starting in fiscal year 2028. The share of administrative costs for states is also increasing from 50% to 75% starting in fiscal year 2027.
While the Senate continues to examine options for how to lower the federal expense of SNAP while complying with Senate rules, the reality is Missouri cannot afford to cover the cost of the cuts proposed. The loss of federal dollars in combination with reduced tax collection due to recent state legislation will put general revenue for discretionary items at a premium. This means to continue funding SNAP through the state budget without the same level of financial support from the federal government could mean less funding available that is typically set aside for other critical community support services, like domestic violence shelters and low-income housing, or infrastructure like highway and bridge maintenance. Alternatively, if the cost is significant enough, it is possible that Missouri lawmakers may choose to opt out of SNAP entirely.
Cutting SNAP undermines Missouri’s potential. Maintaining and strengthening SNAP is how we move toward a state where everyone – regardless of age, income, or ZIP code – has what they need to live a healthy life.
Learn more about how the SNAP program supports families and why protecting this program is essential to a healthier Missouri in our newly updated SNAP Basics (2025) and our at-a-glance SNAP factsheet.
