A mist of uncertainty hung over the state’s meals pantries when Elsy Cipriani toured them this summer time.
Congress had simply handed President Donald Trump’s finances reconciliation invoice into legislation, introducing changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that downshifted some prices from the federal authorities to state governments and restricted this system’s eligibility necessities.
The associated fee-sharing adjustments got here with discreet, foreseeable deadlines. However states had a interval of 120 days, ending on Nov. 1, to implement eligibility adjustments that broaden the work requirement to able-bodied adults up till the age of 65 and exclude many noncitizens — primarily refugees, asylees and human trafficking survivors. Undocumented immigrants have by no means had entry to authorities meals help.
The New Hampshire Meals Financial institution, which works with 400 accomplice organizations throughout the state and executes New Hampshire’s SNAP outreach program, didn’t know when these adjustments would come.
“We perceive the state, specifically the Division of Well being and Human Providers, are simply ready for steering from the federal authorities, as with many different states. So the uncertainty comes from the state to us,” mentioned Cipriani, the Meals Financial institution’s government director.
Cipriani’s outreach workforce struggled to assuage fears that candidates eligible underneath present necessities can be stripped of their meals help {dollars} each time the brand new necessities went into impact.
Meals pantries in each Hillsborough and Merrimack counties advised Cipriani they’d already seen their immigrant shopper base diminish.
“No matter their authorized standing, they don’t seem to be coming to our applications as typically as they used to. Even individuals which can be right here legally are afraid,” she recalled.
They frightened for his or her shoppers and held their breaths realizing that extra stringent SNAP eligibility necessities would create better want and pressure their capability to assist.
“Sadly, persons are going to be pushed to return to us and to go to our companions,” she mentioned. “If all these adjustments happen and we put a number of stress on the emergency meals distribution system, we’re not going to have the ability to provide what the necessity is. We will likely be prepared, but it surely’s an excessive amount of to count on from the emergency meals system in New Hampshire, that it’s going to fill the hole that the SNAP cuts are going to go away.”
With the Nov. 1 deadline approaching, the New Hampshire Meals Financial institution is reaching out to different starvation aid organizations within the state to organize for what’s coming.
Within the legislature, some lawmakers additionally seem like contemplating the implications of those adjustments to SNAP.
Starting on Oct. 1, 2026, states pays a bigger portion of the executive prices related to working SNAP. Equally, the mandate that states contribute to the price of advantages, previously paid in full by the federal authorities, will go into impact the next yr.
A current report from the New Hampshire Fiscal Coverage Institute estimated these adjustments would price New Hampshire $14 million over that timeframe.
Rep. Mark Pearson considers his Legislative Service Request to make “a supplemental appropriation to DHHS for SNAP” a placeholder till the state is aware of extra in regards to the exact monetary drain these adjustments may pose. He expects extra data to be obtainable by the point his proposed invoice makes it to the Well being and Human Providers Oversight Committee in February of 2026.
“Proper now, it seems to be like we gained’t have as a lot cash obtainable to do the issues we need to do,” he mentioned.
A Hampstead Republican and nearly-lifelong clergyman, Pearson mentioned he was branded a “bleeding coronary heart conservative” when he was first elected. He chooses to deal with the label as a praise.
“Fairly often once we come to political questions, both we’re very frugal and cautious or we’re very compassionate to the wants there. When it’s made an either-or factor, we get battles, but when we are able to see that there are various issues that may be completed to satisfy real want and if down the highway they’re cost-effective, my God, let’s go for these,” he mentioned.
Different lawmakers have focused totally different features of SNAP: Republican Rep. Michael Harrington drafted laws that might restrict SNAP recipients’ liberty to buy junk meals with meals stamps.
His proposed invoice would have DHHS submit a waiver to the Division of Agriculture to limit junk meals purchases. Not less than 12 states have submitted comparable waivers, which go into impact in 2026.
“I don’t see how anybody might be against it — it’s supplemental dietary, it’s not supplemental junk meals,” Harrington mentioned. “I don’t suppose it’s a partisan challenge. It doesn’t reduce the pennies; it simply makes positive advantages are used with dietary meals. You should purchase all of the rooster and inexperienced beans you need.”
Different proposed SNAP-related payments embody a request by Rep. Lilli Walsh, much like Harrington’s. There’s additionally a request “relative to food and drinks bought underneath SNAP” by Rep. Lisa Freeman and a request “relative to the funding of the SNAP program by DHHS” by Sen. Daryl Abbas. Not one of the legislators returned the Monitor’s interview requests.
Legislative Service Requests are formal requests state senators and representatives can file with the Workplace of Legislative Providers to draft the language of a brand new invoice. They sometimes embody little data and might be obscure of their wording.
For a whole record of all Legislative Service Requests for 2026, go to https://gc.nh.gov/lsr_search/LSR_Results.aspx.
