By: Whitney Downard
The past weekend’s 250th Independence Day celebration also marked another anniversary: the first year after President Donald Trump signed HR 1, otherwise known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Many of its sweeping policy changes, including work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients and reduced federal aid for administering food benefits, haven’t yet taken effect. But roughly 98,000 Pennsylvanians no longer receive food benefits due to newly imposed requirements under the law, as estimated by the state Department of Human Services.
Between July 2025 and May 2026, the latest month available, enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fell from 1.96 million to 1.74 million, an 11% decrease. DHS attributed less than half of those losses to HR 1.
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