The vote on reconciliation is over, but the harm it will bring to the nation’s children has just begun.

The final legislation cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $186 billion, the largest cut to food assistance in the history of the United States. In addition to feeding the hungry, SNAP lifts 8 million people out of poverty each year, including 4 million children. These cuts will reverse that.

Here are a couple of the finer points regarding the legislation’s impact on SNAP and the 14 million children it feeds a recent piece by First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley:

Kids are going to be hungrier all around: Because children in households receiving SNAP are automatically enrolled for free school breakfasts and lunches through direct certification, cuts to SNAP enrollment ripple straight into schools. When fewer families are on SNAP:

Kids lose automatic eligibility for free meals, and many parents may not know to fill out extra paperwork.
Schools get a lower federal reimbursement, making it harder to offer universal free meals through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).

More children show up to class hungry, with poorer focus, higher absenteeism, and worse long-term outcomes.

The purchasing power of the benefits that remain will steadily erode: One of the most damaging provisions in H.R. 1 is its attack on the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) — the core formula that sets SNAP benefit levels. Under current law, the USDA updates the TFP to reflect changes in nutrition science, food prices, and the realities of how families actually shop and cook. That’s what allowed SNAP benefits to finally rise in 2021 after decades of lagging behind what it actually costs to feed a family. H.R. 1 changes that fundamentally. It limits updates to the TFP to once every five years and requires them to be “cost-neutral.” In other words, even if fresh produce or lean proteins get more expensive, SNAP can’t adjust beyond inflation. Over time, this ensures SNAP benefits will steadily erode against the true cost of a nutritious diet.

Called a “Robin-Hood-in-reverse” policy by one reporter, this final bill fundamentally rewrites the SNAP program in ways that will slash benefits, shift massive costs to states, and ultimately cut off help for millions of children and families.

For more on the impact on SNAP, read H.R. 1 Will Make America’s Kids Hungrier, Less Healthy, and Deeper in Poverty at the Substack Kids Can’t Wait.