Across the country, children are putting on their backpacks and returning to school. Millions of families are also struggling to make ends meet amid higher food, child care, and transportation costs.
Aug 03, 2026
Gina Plata-Nino, JD, Director, SNAP, Food Research & Action Center
Late Friday evening, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-AR) released updated legislative text for the Farm Bill, and said he plans to hold the committee’s markup on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Jul 31, 2026
Gina Plata-Nino, JD, SNAP Director and Dory Thrasher, PhD, Senior SNAP Policy Analyst
State governments entered their 2027 fiscal years facing an increasingly difficult fiscal landscape. Legislatures across the country sought to address rising costs of housing, food, child care, utilities, and health care while managing slowing revenue growth, structural budget gaps, and declining fiscal flexibility. Although many states entered the budget cycle with stronger reserve balances than before the pandemic, those reserves are shrinking, ending balances have declined for three consecutive years, and policymakers are increasingly relying on one-time solutions to balance budgets rather than sustainable revenue growth.