New SNAP work requirements set to go into effect on Feb. 1 with millions at risk of losing benefits
An EBT sign is displayed on the window of a grocery store on October 30, 2025, in Brooklyn, New York. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are set to go into effect on Feb. 1 and it could mean that millions of Americans lose their benefits.
Nearly 42 million Americans, including low-income families and vulnerable households, rely on the federal program to help pay for groceries or other household essentials.
However, under President Donald Trump’s megabill that was signed into law in July, work requirements were amended for most people to receive benefits for longer than three months over three years.
Under the megabill, the upper age limit for those who need to meet work requirements was raised from age 54 through age 64 for the first time for able-bodied adults without dependents.
Additionally, exemptions were changed for parents or other family members with responsibility for a dependent under 18 years old to under 14 years old.
“Millions of people will unnecessarily be kicked off the rolls,” Joel Berg, CEO of the nonprofit Hunger Free America, told ABC News. “They will lose the food they need, and sometimes family members need. … More Americans will go hungry. Soup kitchens and food pantries and the food banks that supply them will not have the resources to meet this need.”
According to August 2025 estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, about 1.1 million people will lose SNAP benefits between 2025 and 2034, including 800,000 able-bodied adults through age 64 who don’t live with dependents and 300,000 parents or caregivers up to age 64 with children aged 14 and older.
An additional 1 million people who are able‑bodied adults ages 18 to 54 — or 18 to 49 starting in 2031 — who do not live with dependents but would have received a waiver from work requirements could also lose benefits.
Exemptions were also removed for homeless individuals, veterans and young adults who were in foster care when they turned age 18 under the megabill.
Berg said it could be very difficult for these populations to not only get jobs but provide the documentation to prove to the government they are meeting work requirements.
“It will be extraordinarily difficult for them, and they are among the most vulnerable Americans already,” he said. “Some of the most vulnerable populations — homeless people, veterans and young people who just left foster care — are going to lose their food, lose their groceries and there is no plan in place to fix that.”
CBO estimates that while there will be reductions in SNAP participation among these groups, it will be partially offset by the increases in participation among American Indians, who received exemptions under the megabill.
Supporters of the work requirements have said they are necessary to combat waste, fraud and abuse. SNAP benefits are administered under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) by the Department of Agriculture.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in an interview on Fox Business on Friday that SNAP benefits are meant to be used temporarily and not long-term.
“The American dream is not being on [a] food stamp program,” Rollins said. “The American dream is not being on all these programs. That should be a hand up, not a handout. … As of yesterday, we have moved 1.75 million people off of SNAP. … A stronger economy, higher wages, I mean this is what we’re fighting for every day, not bigger programs, smaller programs. People to have real jobs, real health care, a real opportunity for their children and their grandchildren.”
FNS didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for further comment.
Data from the 2023 American Community Survey shows the majority of American families receiving SNAP benefits had at least one family member working in the past 12 months.
However, work requirements can reduce program participation. A 2021 report from the National Bureau of Economic Research found SNAP work requirements could lead to up to 53% of eligible adults exiting the program within 18 months.
“These work requirements aren’t really about promoting work. They’re about dehumanizing people and attacking the ‘other’,” Berg said. “Most SNAP recipients are pro-work, and most SNAP recipients are already working, or children or people with disability or older Americans. So all this is sort of a diversionary debate.”
In this June 25, 2018, file photo, an entrance to Fort Bliss is shown, in Fort Bliss, Texas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images, FILE)
(El PASO, Texas) — The contract for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement tent facility in El Paso, Texas, is under review, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed in a statement.
Camp East Montana, a detention center on the grounds of Fort Bliss, was opened in August by the Trump administration. The facility has faced criticism from immigrant advocates following the deaths of three detainees and a current measles outbreak.
“ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody,” Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “The contract for Camp East Montana was inherited from the Department of War. DHS undergoes rigorous audits and inspections of our facilities to ensure they are meeting our high standards.”
“DHS is reviewing this facility and contract,” Bis added. “No decisions have been made related to contract extension, termination, or award.”
Last year, Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia-based company, was awarded $1.2 billion to build the 5,000 bed, short-term detention facility with an estimated date of completion of Sept. 30, 2027, according to a Department of Defense notice.
Acquisition Logistics did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
While DHS has not provided a reason for the review, a current measles outbreak has renewed calls from legal advocates who say detainees are not getting proper medical care.
DHS confirmed to ABC News that there are currently 14 active measles cases at the facility. In a statement, Bis claimed medical staff were quarantining all detainees that may have come into contact with those infected.
“This is the best healthcare than many aliens have received in their entire lives,” Bis claimed, contradicting repeated claims of medical neglect and abuse at the facility made by the ACLU in December and by attorneys with clients being detained there.
Crystal Sandoval, an accredited representative with Las Americas Advocacy Center, who attempted to meet with a potential client on Tuesday, says she was denied entry into the facility because of the outbreak. Sandoval says she was the first person who was granted access into the facility in August 2025 and has been sounding the alarm about what she calls widespread medical neglect.
“I’ve had people be like, ‘I want to be deported because I’m not getting my diabetic medication and if I continue like that, I’m going to have a diabetic coma,'” she told ABC News.
Lawmakers have also increasingly called on DHS to provide more transparency about who they’re contracting with it, and to shut down the facility.
“For months, we have sounded the alarm on the horrific conditions at this facility—from the tragic and preventable deaths of three individuals to the current measles outbreak that has put hundreds at risk,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., on Wednesday. “This $1.2 billion contract was awarded to a company with zero experience in detention management, and the results were as predictable as they were disastrous.”
(NEW YORK) — The South is about to be walloped with more winter weather, less than a week after an ice storm ripped through the region, closing highways and taking down power lines and trees.
The National Weather Service has issued cold weather alerts from Texas to Tennessee and Florida, warning that prolonged exposure to the bitter cold could lead to hypothermia if proper precautions are not taken.
Several dozen people have died in multiple states as a result of the winter storm that stretched across the South and eastern U.S. last week, according to The Associated Press. The Tennessee Department of Health confirmed 21 weather-related fatalities on Saturday morning, Mississippi reported at least 16 and Louisiana confirmed nine, according to state officials.
In addition to hypothermia, the fatalities occurred as a result of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning and accidents involving cars, sleds and snowplows.
States are still working to restore power and clear the roadways of snow and ice that remained in the wake of the storm.
As of Saturday morning, more than 1,500 flights have been cancelled..
Not surprising, the airports seeing some of the most impacts are located in the Winter storm zone and where states have declared a state of emergency: ATL, Charlotte, Raleigh and Charleston.
Here is what to expect in the next round of inclement weather.
Southern states bracing for cold blast while thousands still without power Temperatures are expected to plunge across the South again as a new arctic blast moves into the region, bringing dangerously cold conditions while tens of thousands in multiple states remain without power.
On Friday night, temperatures are expected to fall into the teens across much of Tennessee and northern Mississippi, with lows in the 20s from southern Mississippi into Louisiana.
Gusty winds will make the bitter cold feel even colder for anyone outdoors, with wind chills near or a few degrees below zero from central Tennessee to northern Mississippi by Saturday morning.
Temperatures on Saturday afternoon will only reach a high of 21 degrees in Nashville and 26 degrees in Oxford, Mississippi. Thousands of people in both states have been without electricity for nearly a week, exacerbating the danger presented from the frigid temperatures.
States like Tennessee and Mississippi don’t necessarily design their infrastructure to withstand ice storms — they are instead engineered to handle hurricanes and extreme heat, more common regional threats, said Sara Eftekharnejad, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science in Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Restoration after an ice storm is often more challenging, because when trees fall, they tend to take down multiple power lines at one, Eftekharnejad said in a statement.
“An equal concern is the frigid Arctic blast and the blustery winds,” Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia and former president of the American Meteorological Society, told ABC News.
Heavy snow and blizzard conditions are also possible for the Southeast this weekend.
Snow will become widespread Friday night across much of eastern Tennessee, southern Virginia, nearly all of North Carolina, northern South Carolina and northeastern Georgia,
Residents in Georgia are “excited about the snow,” Shepherd said, but emphasized the overall concern for vulnerable populations such as the elderly and homeless.
The bitter cold is expected to ease by early next week with highs in the 40s and 50s from Texas to Tennessee on Monday.
It will be even milder by Tuesday, with afternoon temperatures in the 50s and 60s in many areas. Tuesday’s highs will be near 50 degrees in Nashville and reach the mid-50s in Oxford, Mississippi.
However, it will still be cold at night for those that still have to cope with no electricity. Both Tennessee and Mississippi experienced widespread power outages as a result of the storm.
Freezing temperatures heading toward Florida The Sunshine State will not be spared from the winter weather this time around, the forecast shows.
Temperatures remained mild in Florida last weekend while the massive ice storm inundated its neighboring states to the north.
The state will face a brief but potent blast of extreme cold, bringing the coldest temperatures in more than 15 years to parts of Florida.
Actual air temperatures are forecast to dip into the 20s across much of the state by Sunday morning, including Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Orlando, potentially challenging daily record lows in all three cities.
“Freeze conditions will likely kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing,” the National Weather Service said.
On Sunday, a low temperature around freezing is possible in Tampa, with temperatures dipping into the mid-30s across southern Florida, including Miami. Miami could also challenge a daily record low on Sunday.
If the low temperature in Miami on Sunday morning dips into the upper 30s, that would be the coldest temperature the city has experienced since December 2010. On Dec. 28, 2010, the low temperature in Miami was 39 degrees. The current forecast has lows at 36 degrees.
The coldest recorded temperature ever recorded in Miami occurred on Feb. 3, 1917, when the temperature dropped to 27 degrees. Records go back to 1895.
In Orlando, the current low temperature forecast is 24 on Sunday morning. This could be the coldest temperature that the city has experienced since Dec. 29, 2010, when the low temperature in Orlando was 24 degrees.
The coldest recorded temperature in Orlando occurred on Dec. 28, 1894, when the temperature dropped to 18 degrees. Records go back to 1892.
How Florida farms, groves are preparing Florida’s agricultural industry is preparing for the freezing temperatures. The state exports crops such as leafy greens, strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers and blueberries to the rest of the country during the winter, according to ATTRA, a sustainable agriculture information source.
However, the wind chills will be even lower. It will potentially feel like the single digits in North Florida on Sunday morning, the teens in the central peninsula and in the 20s in South Florida.
Farmers have already been reporting frost damage in crops such as snap beans, sweet corn, squash and bell peppers. Cold exposure in southern counties has caused leaf burn and flower drop, which, depending on the crop stage or duration of exposure, can cause reduced yields or complete field losses.
Florida citrus growers have activated established frost protection practices to protect root systems and help moderate air temperatures around trees in anticipation of cold and potential freeze conditions, Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, told ABC News.
Leaders in Florida’s citrus industry hope that years of deployed treatments, therapies and replanting efforts to strengthen tree health will allow the groves to withstand the cold and freezing temperatures coming their way, Matt Joyner, executive vice president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual told ABC News.
“As is typical in these situations, it remains too early to estimate potential impacts, as effects will vary based on location, duration, and severity of cold temperatures,” Shepp said.
Florida growers are “experienced” in managing weather-related challenges and have navigated freeze events “many times before,” Shepp added.
The National Weather Service warned that strong, gusty winds accompanying the cold front on Saturday could create additional hazards and potentially disrupt final preparations to protect sensitive vegetation and pipes.
The NWS advised people to ensure that any tarps, blankets or coverings around sensitive plants or pipes are properly secured. Preparations should be completed by Saturday morning at the latest to avoid the strongest winds.
Reptiles could be ‘cold-stunned’ Reptiles in the state will likely become cold-stunned as a result of the temperatures. In the past, iguanas have been seen falling out of trees, and alligators appeared motionless in frozen waterways.
At ZooMiami, keepers are most concerned about its reptile residents, Ron Magill, ZooMiami’s communications director, told ABC News.
All of the zoo’s giant land tortoises and lizards that have access to the outdoors will be secured indoors in a heated structure, while the crocodilians will have access to constantly flowing water, Magill said. Smaller, more sensitive mammals, like sloths, porcupines will be brought indoors and kept in a heated structure as well.
The primates, like the chimpanzees our orangutans, are given blankets that they wrap themselves up in, Magill said.
The animals are also given more food, since it takes more calories to fight the cold, Magill said.
At Jungle Island, an eco-adventure park on Miami’s Watson Island, most of the animals come from tropical or sub-tropical climates, and therefore are brought inside as well, Jon Joyce, the animal care curator at Jungle Island, said in a statement.
Some animals, like the tigers, bask in the below-normal temperatures, and become more active and playful, Magill said.
Cadaver dogs in the Bahamas to help search for missing American Lynette Hooker, April 16, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Nearly three weeks after American Lynette Hooker went overboard and disappeared in the Bahamas, an attorney for her husband Brian Hooker is asking the public “to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Michigan-based attorney Crystal Marie Hauser told ABC News that Brian Hooker never would have harmed his wife of 25 years.
Lynette Hooker has been missing since April 4. That evening, after the couple departed Hope Town for their yacht, Soulmate, in Elbow Cay, bad weather caused Lynette Hooker to fall off their dinghy and go overboard, Brian Hooker told authorities.
Brian Hooker was arrested on April 8 and questioned by police. He was released on April 13 without charges.
On April 14, Brian Hooker told ABC News that he was staying in the Bahamas with a “sole focus” of finding his wife, “no matter how likely or unlikely that is.”
“My only focus is to go back to the boat and then hire or beg people to help me go find some areas to search,” he said.
But hours after that interview, Brian Hooker left the Bahamas, with his Bahamian attorney saying he wanted to be with his terminally ill mother.
Asked if Brian Hooker plans to return to the Bahamas to help with the search, Hauser said, “I imagine that is where his heart is, but I can’t speak on whether or not that’s what he would be doing.”
Karli Aylesworth, Lynette Hooker’s daughter and Brian Hooker’s stepdaughter, has traveled to the Bahamas and told ABC News she doubted Brian Hooker’s story.
“I don’t understand how she drowned or got floated away,” Aylesworth said. “It just made me be more, ‘Why didn’t he do this? Why didn’t you do that? Why did that happen?'”
Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told ABC News the couple had a volatile relationship.
“We all handle things in different ways,” Hauser said. “Be open-minded to the fact that just because Karli and Darlene are making these claims, there’s absolutely no evidence to support any of the allegations — absolutely none.”
