January brings changes for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, with several states restricting the purchase of soft drinks and candy.
In Iowa’s case, the state is restricting using benefits for the purchase of all taxable food items as defined by the Iowa Department of Revenue, this includes candy, prepared foods vitamins and sweetened drinks.
President & CEO Chris Ford was recently interviewed by Our Quad Cities’ Riley Hemmer about recent SNAP changes. Ford said there are significant changes rolling out due to the One Big Beautiful Bill, HR-1, including:
- Cutting SNAP education
- Removing some legal immigrants from SNAP eligibility
- Work requirements that change the age for eligibility
Ford said the fall federal government shutdown and SNAP freeze created hardship for millions of people and dealt a blow to food and cash reserves for food banks across the country. He said the continued rollout of HR-1 means more hard choices for feeding our community.
“Prepare yourself, because what’s coming this year with the legislation passed and SNAP changes, we’re headed right back in that direction,” says Ford.
View Ford’s complete interview with Our Quad Cities: SNAP benefits are changing in 2026; here’s what you need to know
Ford also helped lead shared dialogue on SNAP changes at the OneTable QC Talks held Jan. 7 and Jan. 8. Attended by legislative representatives, social services providers and community members, the event focused on the impact of Medicaid and SNAP changes for our community.
Ford told OneTable attendees that upcoming cost-sharing changes will put a significant strain on state budgets over the next two years – to the tune of $800 million per year for Illinois and $40 million per year for Iowa.
“So, state legislators have some really tough decisions to make,” he said. “And those range from raising taxes, which certainly people will not be happy about, to cutting other programs within the state budget to fund the SNAP program.”
Ford said it is possible state legislators will opt not to fill the staggering gaps created by SNAP cuts.
“Theoretically, there are some states that could say we don’t have funding to support a SNAP program, but that would be catastrophic,” he said.
SNAP currently provides an average of $6 per day for nearly 42 million people nationally, including roughly 40% who are children. In River Bend Food Bank’s service area alone, SNAP provides an estimated 12 million meals per month. Losing any meals provided by SNAP will widen the gap that all food banks are already struggling to fill.
To contact your legislators to share the importance of SNAP in your community, visit www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
To learn more about speaking out for your community, consider signing up for OneTable QC’s Feb. 3 “Advocacy Without Fear” session. Sponsored by Humility Homes & Services, the event features non-profit advocacy strategist Bethany Snyder, MPP. Registration is available at: events.humanitix.com/onetable-qc-advocacy-without-fear