Behind the legislative language is a profound shift in who is deemed “deserving” of help. The expanded 80-hour-per-month work requirement
turns food assistance into a conditional lifeline, one that can be severed by a missed shift, unstable hours, or a lost job. For many, especially in
low-wage or seasonal work, compliance will
depend less on effort than on luck and employer whims.
The removal of protections for veterans, unhoused people, and former foster youth redraws the moral boundaries of the safety net. Narrowed immigration
eligibility and the freeze on updating the Thrifty Food Plan mean benefits will cover less food in a more expensive world. Supporters call it discipline; critics see an engineered rise
in quiet hunger. The real impact will not be measured in budget tables, but in the growing number of households learning how to go without.
