Author’s note: This blogpost uses available data from March 2026. Some newer data from April 2026 is now available, showing the total reduction in Maine SNAP recipients now at 13,993 (an 8% decline) and the reduction in Maine children receiving SNAP at 4,306 (also an 8% decline). Find those numbers in the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ recent blogpost.
Following a national trend, over 13,000 Mainers have lost food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since Congressional Republicans and President Trump enacted their reconciliation bill last July. Maine Department of Health and Human Services data shows people across the state have lost SNAP, with the losses concentrated among vulnerable populations targeted by the bill.
The Republican reconciliation bill made several significant changes to the existing SNAP work reporting requirement, including:
- Ending waivers for Americans experiencing homelessness or housing instability, veterans, and youth who were formerly in foster care
- Ending waivers for Americans living in areas of elevated unemployment unless the unemployment rate in those areas is higher than 10%
- Expanding the age limit for the requirement to include Mainers age 55-64
- Expanding the requirement to include caregivers of children age 14 and older
While work reporting requirements are often touted as ways to encourage people with low income into the work force, the reality is most people using assistance programs already work or would like to work if they could, but they face barriers ranging from unpredictable schedules to poor health or lack of transportation. Adding extra paperwork does nothing to remove these barriers and simply punishes people already in a difficult situation (as well as tripping up some people who are working but make a mistake while reporting it).
Additionally, the reconciliation bill excluded certain immigrants from SNAP who had previously been included on humanitarian grounds, including refugees, people who had been granted asylum, and others such as survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence.
Maine’s most rural communities, largest cities, and children are being hit hardest
According to the DHHS data, enrollment in SNAP declined statewide by 7.8% between the passage of the reconciliation bill in July and the end of March. Almost every community in the state saw a decline in SNAP enrollment but areas of the state most targeted by the bill saw the biggest declines:
- In the 213 towns with higher rates of unemployment, largely in rural areas and which had previously been granted a waiver from the work reporting requirements, enrollment fell 8.7%
- In Lewiston and Portland, towns which contain large concentrations of both New Mainers and Mainers at risk of homelessness, enrollment in the program declined 8.3% and 13.7% respectively
The DHHS data also shows collateral damage from the policy change. Although parents of children under age 14 are still mostly exempt from the work reporting requirements, just over 4,000 Maine children dropped off SNAP between July 2025 and March 2026 — a decline of 8.3%. Some of these may have been older children whose parents no longer qualified for an exemption from the requirement. Others may have been the children of immigrants who were excluded from the program. It’s also possible confusion over the changes to the program led to some households dropping out even though they remained eligible.
A broader look at where most people have lost SNAP shows the effects were strongest in the most rural parts of the state.
Federal policy change is clearly at the root of increased hardship
A sharp drop in SNAP enrollment beginning shortly after the passage of the Republican reconciliation bill shows the decline in enrollment was due to the passage of the Republican bill itself. Between February and July 2025, enrollment in Maine’s SNAP program declined by an average of 0.1% each month — essentially flat — while in August 2025 and March 2026, enrollment fell at an average of 1% each month.
It’s extremely unlikely this decline in enrollment is a result of improving economic conditions for existing SNAP enrollees, leading them to have incomes above the monthly eligibility limit. In the MaineCare program, similarly targeted at Mainers with low income enrollment declined by just 0.6%. MaineCare does not currently have a work requirement (one will begin in 2027), suggesting there was no widespread improvement in conditions for Mainers with low income over this time.
SNAP cuts are increasing hardship, not employment
The Trump Administration and its supporters claim the reduction in people receiving food assistance is evidence the program is working and helping people get into the workforce. But the data contradicts this story. Between July and February (the latest month for which unemployment data is available), the statewide unemployment rate actually increased even as people were leaving the SNAP program, and almost 40,000 fewer people were working.1 What’s more, the counties with the largest declines in SNAP participation saw some of the largest increases in unemployment. In other words, the expansion of the work reporting requirements hit hardest in areas where there were fewer jobs to be had.
So far, the changes to SNAP in the Republican reconciliation bill are having exactly the impact opponents predicted — fewer people are getting the help they need and there is no noticeable impact on people finding employment. This trend is likely to continue, as Maine DHHS estimates the total number of Mainers losing food assistance could be as high as 30,000. This is broadly consistent with Maine’s previous experience of draconian enforcement of the work reporting requirement under Governor LePage — hunger increased as the state skimped on helping people who needed food. Thanks to President Trump and Congressional Republicans, we look set to repeat the same mistake on a national scale.