Thanks to Trump and Republicans’ budget bill, more than 131,000 Nevadans could lose food and nutrition assistance and the state will be forced to shoulder tens of millions in additional costs to administer SNAP, according to a new report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The reporting is based on testimony from state officials, who had to request additional funding for the Division of Social Services due to the Republicans’ bill shifting hundreds of thousands of additional costs onto the state. That’s just the beginning though, as the bill is expected to shift $19 million in administrative expenses onto the state in the 2025-2027 budget cycle, as well as up to $55 million in annual costs if the state is unable to lower its payment error rate.
Under Joe Lombardo, Nevada food insecurity has continuously gotten worse, as roughly 1 in 6 Nevadans are now food insecure.
Despite the fact that the Republicans’ bill will likely force tens of thousands of Nevadans deeper into hunger as it costs the state tens of millions of dollars in additional costs, Lombardo has on multiple occasions praised Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, saying Nevadans should be “excited” by it and thanking Speaker Mike Johnson for coming to Nevada to try to sell the bill.
Read more below:
Las Vegas Review-Journal: 131K Nevadans could lose food stamps because of ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ officials say
Key points:
- More than 131,000 Nevadans could lose food and nutrition benefits because of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” officials said during a Nevada legislative committee meeting Wednesday.
- The discussion came out of an additional budget funding request from the Division of Social Services, which sought more than $244,000 to fill a shortfall tied to increased operating expenses from use of a federal income verification system that was previously available to the state for free.
- Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro said she worries the federal changes to SNAP eligibility and administrative costs for the program could take away vital services from Nevadans. “We are talking about feeding families, and to me, we are doing it well, but we’re still in a position where we’re going to have to cut back services, where we are going to have to take that food from those families, and where we’re going to have to come up with additional money because of this federal piece of legislation,” Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, said.
- Nevada had an average of 505,000 recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, in 2024. Policy changes included in the new federal law, passed in Congress earlier this summer and signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, include shifting more of the cost burden to states while also changing eligibility requirements for beneficiaries.
- One impact of the law is a change in addressing error rates by state. The federal government previously covered all of a state’s SNAP benefits. But the new law requires states with an error rate — the percentage of benefits that are over or underpaid — at or above 6 percent to cover between 5 percent and 15 percent of total benefit costs starting in 2028.
- Nevada’s error rate typically fluctuates around 6 percent, one of the lowest rates in the country, according to Kelly Cantrelle, deputy administrator at the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, but it currently sits around 7 percent. At that rate, the state would need to cover 5 percent of SNAP benefits, which could cost the state about $55 million each year, Cantrelle said.
- Another impact the law could have on Nevada’s SNAP benefits is a change in who covers administrative costs. In October 2026, the federal government will reduce its contribution to state administrative costs from 50 percent to 25 percent. Thompson said that reduction would translate to roughly $19 million less in operational funding during the 2025-2027 two-year budget cycle.
- But Democrats responded that the new SNAP eligibility requirements could force Nevadans to turn to food banks, which may not be able to meet the heightened demand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture ended funding for two locally sourced food options for Nevada schools and food banks in March. Food banks in Nevada say they have already had to scale back their food distribution systems to stretch their resources.
- About 1 in 6 Southern Nevadans are food insecure, according to an annual report from Three Square food bank.
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