Posted on 07/11/25
| News Source: Maryland Matters
Annapolis, MD - July 11, 2025 - It won’t happen immediately, but advocates and state officials are predicting that changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the budget reconciliation bill signed last week will deliver “a devastating blow” to many of the 680,000 Marylanders who get SNAP benefits.
The biggest change that recipients will see are new work requirements for some able-bodied recipients that analysts say many Marylanders simply will not be able to meet, for a number of reasons.
The bill also includes a massive shift in costs from the federal to the state governments. Currently, the split administrative costs for the program 50/50 and the federal government pays for all the costs of the actual benefit.
Beginning next year, states will pay 75% of administration, at a cost of $172.5 million, according to estimates from the Maryland Department of Human Services. A year later, they will pay for up to 15% of the actual benefits, according to a formula based on current performance. Maryland will pay the most, 15%, at a cost in current dollars of $240 million.
The bill also caps future benefit increases at the rate of inflation and limits eligibility to citizens and lawful permanent residents; refugees and asylum-seekers would be kicked off the program.
The Urban Institute estimated this month that about 369,000 Maryland families would lose some or all SNAP benefits. Of those, 81,000 would lose an average of $150 a month — the current average monthly benefit in Maryland is $180 — and 51,000 families with children would lose and average of $81 a month.
“We are really trying to get our head around these impacts,” Maryland Human Services Secretary Rafael López said in an interview last week. “They are massive. They will be felt across the state.”