“In a state with increasing food insecurity, more than 130,000 food stamp recipients will have their eligibility reevaluated”

Last week, reporting from the Nevada Independent showed how Trump and Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill” will result in hundreds of thousands of families in Nevada either losing SNAP food benefits or seeing cuts to them. According to the article, Republican cuts to the program, made in an effort to offset tax cuts that are “primarily for the highest earners”, will mean “more Nevadans are going hungry”. 

One in six Nevadans, roughly 500,000 people, rely on the SNAP program and an estimated “265,000 families could lose all or some of their benefits, with 85,000 families facing at least $25 in monthly benefit losses”. According to the chief operations and strategy officer for Three Square, Nevada’s largest food bank, this will result in “kids having fewer meals, seniors literally having to skip dinner and ration more than they already do and then families that are working so many jobs and can barely make ends meet already.” 

Further, the article details how the Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill” will downshift tens of millions of dollars in additional costs to Nevada’s state budget. Under the bill, the state will have to cover between $50 million and $150 million of SNAP benefits costs annually, in addition to tens of millions of dollars more to cover the program’s administrative costs. According to one expert, that “will make it harder for the state to run the program effectively, which could result in higher error rates that will force Nevada to cover some of the benefit costs.”

Despite the immense harm the bill will do to Nevadans, Joe Lombardo has on multiple occasions praised the bill, saying both that Nevadans should be “excited” by it and thanking Speaker Mike Johnson for coming to Nevada to try to sell the bill. 

Read more below:

The Nevada Independent: 1 in 6 Nevadans get food stamps. Many may lose benefits under Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill.’

• The “One Big Beautiful Bill” signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month is likely to upend the food assistance program that serves 1 in 6 Nevadans, with expanded work requirements threatening thousands of recipients’ eligibility and the state expected to shoulder more of the program’s administrative costs.

• The legislation cuts nationwide food stamp funding by about $186 billion through 2034, or a fifth of the total federal dollars allocated to the program. Its inclusion is an effort to offset some of the costs of extending tax cuts that will result in lower taxes across all income brackets, but primarily for the highest earners.

• Food stamps, officially referred to as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provide cash assistance for low-income individuals to buy food at certain retailers. Although the full impact of the cuts have yet to be fully assessed by the state, early indications are that the bill will result in hundreds of thousands of Nevada families losing or seeing a reduction in their benefits.

• Changes made in the bill will have far-ranging results: The eligibility of more than 130,000 Nevadans could be in doubt because of changes to work requirements, benefit amounts are less likely to increase over time, and the state will have to cover more administrative costs, which researchers say will result in less attention directed toward rooting out errors in the program.

• About 500,000 Nevadans participate in the program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The average Nevada household on SNAP received $166 in monthly benefits, amounting to about $6 daily and $2,000 annually, according to an analysis from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

• The Urban Institute, an economic think tank, estimated that 265,000 families in Nevada could lose all or some of their benefits, with 85,000 families facing at least $25 in monthly benefit losses.

• The bill has resulted in significant angst from officials focused on eliminating hunger in the Silver State — and it’s come at potentially the worst possible time. Inflation remains stubbornly high, the Trump administration has already cut certain food programs, food banks across the state have reported increasing demand in recent months and a surge in federal pandemic aid that expanded SNAP and other food programs is drying up.

• All of it means more Nevadans are going hungry.

• Segler from Three Square added that “this is taking [recipients’] livelihood away.” “The things I think about are kids having fewer meals, seniors literally having to skip dinner and ration more than they already do and then families that are working so many jobs and can barely make ends meet already,” she said.

• The federal government has always fully funded SNAP benefits, leaving implementation to the states. But under the new law, states could have to shoulder some of the food costs.

• States with a payment error rate above 6 percent — meaning there was either underpayment or overpayment on at least 6 percent of benefit payouts — would be required to cover between 5 percent and 15 percent of total benefit costs starting in 2028. In fiscal year 2024, Nevadans received about $1 billion in benefits, so Nevada would need to pay between $50 million and $150 million if the error rate is too high.

• Still, no matter the error rates, Nevada and other states will have to foot more of the administrative costs.

• Previously, the federal government reimbursed half of the dollars tied to food stamp administration, but beginning in fiscal year 2027, states will have to cover 75 percent of the costs.

• In fiscal year 2025, the projected administrative cost to the state was about $83 million, which the state will pay half of, according to Muessle, the state spokesperson, but the state’s payment would have increased by about $20 million under the new model. Muessle said that the administrative cost for fiscal year 2026 is expected to be about $100 million.

• Plata-Nino added that this will make it harder for the state to run the program effectively, which could result in higher error rates that will force Nevada to cover some of the benefit costs.

• McDonough, the UNLV economist, added that the implications of the bill go beyond “whether people have empty stomachs.” “It’s really about potential rising health care costs stemming from these externalities, students struggling in school, lost productivity in the workplace, and then just putting sort of these community partnership programs, food banks under real financial strain,” he said.