Money & Benefits · Program
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: federal rules set the income limits and maximum benefits each October 1; each state issues benefits on its own monthly schedule.
The 2025 law widened the work rule to age 64, narrowed the exception for parents, removed three exemptions and cut the list of eligible non-citizens. What each change says, when the states apply it, and the cost shift that begins on October 1, 2026.
Federal rules decide whether a household qualifies and how much it gets; the state decides the day. Here is the calculation as the Food and Nutrition Service describes it, with the fiscal-year 2026 figures.