Is EBT Going Away? Work Rules, Cuts, and Exemptions

No, EBT is not going away. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that funds the card is permanent federal law with no expiration date, and no serious proposal exists to end it. But a July 2025 budget law made the biggest changes to SNAP in decades: roughly $187 billion in cuts over ten years, work requirements that now reach most adults ages 18 through 64, and the loss of exemptions that had protected veterans, homeless people, and young adults who aged out of foster care. Your card still works. What it carries, and who qualifies to keep using it, is a different question.

Why SNAP Itself Isn’t Going Anywhere

The EBT card is just the delivery method. The program behind it is authorized by the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 and codified at 7 U.S.C. § 2011.¹ SNAP is an entitlement, meaning the federal government is legally obligated to provide benefits to every household that meets eligibility rules, no matter how many people apply. Ending it entirely would require new legislation. The program’s policy details get revisited through the Farm Bill roughly every five years, and the 2018 Farm Bill was extended through September 30, 2025, with a new reauthorization pending. Those debates reshape eligibility and benefit math. They operate inside the permanent framework, not against it.

What the 2025 Budget Law Changed

If you’ve heard that food stamps are being gutted, this is what people are talking about. On July 4, 2025, budget reconciliation law P.L. 119-21 was enacted with SNAP provisions estimated to reduce federal spending by almost $187 billion over ten years.² The law didn’t shut down EBT. It changed who qualifies, how benefits are calculated, and how much states have to pay. The changes that matter most to current recipients:

Work requirements now cover nearly all working-age adults ages 18 through 64, including parents whose youngest child is 14 or older.
Exemptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults who aged out of foster care were removed.
The Thrifty Food Plan, which sets maximum benefit levels, is now capped at inflation. Starting no earlier than October 2027, USDA can still reevaluate the plan, but any increase cannot exceed the rate of inflation. A 2021 reevaluation had raised benefits by about 21%. Future updates of that size are now legally impossible.
Households without an elderly or disabled member can no longer use a small energy assistance payment to unlock the full utility deduction that had increased their benefit.
Internet costs no longer count toward shelter expenses.
SNAP eligibility for noncitizens is now limited to lawful permanent residents (after a five-year waiting period), Cuban-Haitian entrants, and certain Compact of Free Association migrants.

Not everything landed at once. The expanded work requirements took effect November 1, 2025, with a compliance demonstration deadline in early 2026. State cost-sharing provisions phase in during fiscal years 2027 and 2028.²

Expanded Work Requirements: Who’s Now on the Clock

Under 7 U.S.C. § 2015(o), adults subject to time limits can only receive SNAP for three months in any 36-month period unless they work at least 20 hours per week or take part in a qualifying training program.³ Before 2023, this only applied to childless adults ages 18 through 49. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 raised the ceiling in stages to 55 by October 2024.⁴ Then P.L. 119-21 pushed it to 64 and, for the first time, pulled in parents whose youngest dependent child is 14 or older.²

If you fall within the covered age range and don’t meet an exemption, you get three months of SNAP in any 36-month window. After that, benefits stop until you can show 80 hours of work or training in a 30-day period.³ The first month households can actually lose benefits under the expanded rules is mid-2026.

Who Is Still Exempt

You are not subject to the work time limit if you are under 18 or 65 and older, pregnant, medically certified as physically or mentally unable to work, or responsible for a child under 14 in your household.³ Exemptions also remain for individuals who are Indian, Urban Indian, or California Indian as defined in federal law.²

SNAP also recognizes a separate disability category that serves as an exemption. You qualify if you receive federal disability or SSI payments, a disability retirement benefit from a government agency, certain Railroad Retirement annuities, or VA benefits based on total and permanent disability.⁵ A doctor’s certification of unfitness for employment can also exempt you even without a formal disability benefit.

Who Just Lost Their Exemption

This is where the 2025 law stings. Veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults who aged out of foster care at 18 had all been protected from the work time limit. P.L. 119-21 removed all three of those protections.² If you’re in one of those groups and don’t otherwise qualify for an exemption, you now face the same three-month clock as everyone else.

Why Your Benefits Already Dropped in 2023

Many households first felt something was wrong in March 2023, when their EBT balance shrank overnight. That wasn’t EBT going away. It was the end of emergency allotments, a temporary pandemic boost that had been running since 2020. During that period, every SNAP household got either an extra $95 per month or enough to reach the maximum for their household size, whichever was greater. When the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 cut off emergency allotments, benefits snapped back to standard levels.⁶ A household at the maximum lost $95 a month. Larger households that had been topped up above the floor lost more.

What You Actually Get Now

Standard SNAP benefits are calculated from the Thrifty Food Plan, USDA’s estimate of a nutritionally adequate low-cost diet. Your monthly benefit is the difference between the maximum for your household size and 30% of your household’s net monthly income. A household with zero countable income gets the full maximum. Everyone else gets less.

For October 2025 through September 2026, the maximum monthly allotments in the 48 contiguous states are:⁷

1 person: $298
2 people: $546
3 people: $785
4 people: $994
5 people: $1,183
6 people: $1,421
7 people: $1,571
8 people: $1,789
Each additional person: $218

Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have higher allotments to reflect regional food costs.

Income Limits

Most households must have gross monthly income below 130% of the federal poverty level and net monthly income below 100%. A single-person household faces a gross limit of $1,696 and a net limit of $1,305. A household of four faces a gross limit of $3,483 and a net limit of $2,680.⁸ Households where every member is elderly or disabled only need to meet the net income test. Federal asset limits are $3,000 for most households and $4,500 when someone is 60 or older or disabled, though many states have eliminated asset testing through broad-based categorical eligibility.

Net income isn’t just your paycheck. SNAP subtracts a standard deduction, 20% of earned income, out-of-pocket dependent care costs, medical expenses over $35 per month for elderly or disabled members, and excess shelter costs above half your adjusted income. Remember that P.L. 119-21 pulled internet costs out of the shelter calculation and changed how energy assistance interacts with the utility allowance for non-elderly, non-disabled households. Some deductions that boosted your benefit in 2024 no longer apply.

If Your Benefits Get Stolen

Card skimming has hit SNAP households hard. Thieves install devices on card readers, copy your card data, and drain your balance. Check your balance regularly, and if you see unauthorized transactions, change your PIN and report the theft to your local SNAP office.⁹

Here’s what many people don’t know: the federal authority that let states replace stolen SNAP benefits expired on December 20, 2024.¹⁰ Unless Congress renews it, states are not required to reimburse you when your benefits are stolen. USDA has been rolling out chip-enabled EBT cards, which are harder to skim than magnetic-stripe cards, and states are at various stages of implementation.¹¹ Until your state switches, protecting your PIN is your best defense.

Don’t Miss Your Recertification

More people lose SNAP benefits from missing paperwork than from any policy change. SNAP eligibility isn’t permanent once approved. Your household is certified for a set period, and before that period ends, you must recertify with updated income and household information. Your state agency mails a notice, but notices are easy to miss, especially after a move. If you don’t complete recertification before the deadline, your benefits stop and you have to reapply from scratch.

Some states also require an interim report partway through, typically at the six-month mark for a 12-month certification. Between reports, you generally only need to notify the agency if your household income rises above 130% of the federal poverty level. If you’re not sure when your certification expires or whether a report is due, call your local SNAP office rather than assuming everything is current.

Your Right to Challenge a Cut

If your benefits are reduced, denied, or terminated and you believe the decision is wrong, federal regulations give you the right to a fair hearing. You can request one within 90 days of the action you’re disputing, and the request can be as simple as telling your state agency, in writing or verbally, that you want to appeal.¹² You can also challenge your current benefit level at any point during your certification period if you think it was calculated incorrectly.

Once you request a hearing, the state has 60 days to hold it and reach a decision. You can represent yourself, bring a friend or family member, or have a legal aid attorney handle it. If free legal representation is available in your area, the state is required to tell you about it.¹² If you request the hearing before your benefits are actually reduced, you can sometimes keep your current benefit amount until the hearing is resolved. Fair hearings are underused, and state agencies count on that. If something looks wrong on your case, don’t just accept it.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 7 U.S. Code 2011 – Congressional Declaration of Policy
2
Congressional Research Service. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Related Provisions
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 7 USC 2015 – Eligibility Disqualifications
4
Federal Register. Program Purpose and Work Requirement Provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act
5
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Special Rules for the Elderly or Disabled
6
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Emergency Allotments to End by March
7
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information
8
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility
9
Food and Nutrition Service. Addressing Stolen SNAP Benefits
10
Food and Nutrition Service. Replacing Stolen SNAP Benefits: State Plan Approvals
11
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP EBT Modernization
12
eCFR. 7 CFR 273.15 – Fair Hearings