Parents who wont pay child support can lose SNAP eligibility under reinstated Trump rule

WASHINGTON — Millions of parents refusing to pay child support may have their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility revoked after the US Department of Agriculture rescinded a Biden administration rule earlier this month, The Post has learned.The move, which revives a policy implemented during the first Trump administration, could save taxpayers more than $8 billion per year in money that’s formerly gone to delinquent child support payees.“This is not about kicking people, who truly can’t afford to make payments, off SNAP,” said Alex Adams, assistant secretary for family support at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.“It’s about getting people to have a plan in place so that they can fulfill both their legal and their moral responsibility to their children.”Under former President Joe Biden, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration had, in Adams’ words, “shut the door and basically discouraged states from using” child support delinquency to disqualify would-be SNAP recipients, pursuant to a June 6, 2024, memo.Only Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi had implemented any restrictions as of the following year, per a 2025 State Options Report published by the USDA.The Biden-era guidance was rescinded in a July 20 memo that allows states to strip SNAP benefits from parents without primary custody who are supposed to pay child support — and are failing to do so.“The child support program serves over 12 million children each year, bringing families closer to escaping poverty and decreasing the reliance on public assistance programs,” the memo stated.“Currently, too few single-parent families enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) receive child support at all, with even fewer receiving the full amount they deserve.”SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps, serve a total of 42 million Americans.

Of those, roughly 3.8 million are pare...