The record · Topic 08 of 15
How much do people want it
What got approved
Congress's own research service estimates one change lowers monthly benefits by about $10 for roughly 65% of households receiving them, every year from 2026 through 2034. The budget office estimates another change may end benefits entirely for 300,000 people in an average month. Money for children's food programs was cut too, affecting about 96,000 children in an average month.
The same law limits how much benefits can go up in future. They can now only rise once a year with the cost-of-living adjustment, and the Agriculture Department can't raise them any other way until October 2027 at the earliest.
This was bundled with hundreds of other subjects, most of which have never been polled. So we can't say whether Americans wanted the rest of it, and we won't say how any one member voted on this — their single vote covered everything in the package, not this. See polling qualifications.
The House has passed its farm bill. A Senate committee draft released at the end of July would delay some of the cost changes by a year and raise the maximum share states must pay from 15% to 20% starting in 2031. It went to committee on 6 August 2026 and has not become law.
What could have been
While this ranks 8th of 15 for agreement, we haven't found a bill in this Congress written to raise these benefits. On most topics on this list there is at least a bill sitting and waiting for a vote. Here there is nothing to wait for.
This is one of two topics measured twice. A year before the cuts, people were told what a person living alone actually receives — $170 a month, on an income of $860 — and asked what it should be. 86% chose a higher number, including 82% of Republicans. The middle answer was $250.
Asked about a single mother receiving $530 a month, 70% chose a higher number. The middle answer was $600.
The 79% figure at the top of this page was measured in February 2026 — seven months after the law cut benefits. People were told what a person living alone currently receives and asked what it should be. The middle answer among Republicans was $200, among Democrats $250, against the current $170.
If one exists and we've missed it, tell us and we'll add it. That's what the corrections page is for.
Additional notes
Nothing to report. Where a government department changes a rule affecting this topic, it appears here — never counted as the government getting something done. Why.
Where these came from
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