A woman interviewed Wednesday was shocked — deeply offended, even — that people might need to work a grand total of 80 hours a month to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Yes, the horror: working.

President Donald Trump’s updated policy, part of the big, beautiful bill, raised the age requirement from 49 to 64 and now requires able-bodied adults to put in at least 80 hours of work monthly. One woman told FOX Local that this is all terribly “unfair,” insisting the new rules are going to “hurt a lot of people.”

“I don’t think it’s fair that [Trump] do that… It’s definitely going to hurt a lot of people,” she said. “Because you never know.”
(Whatever that means.)

The new requirements officially kicked in on December 1 — four months after the big, beautiful bill passed on July 4.

Meanwhile, SNAP participation has exploded over the past two decades, ballooning from 17.2 million recipients in 2000 to 41.7 million in 2024. Naturally, the cost followed: from $28.5 billion to almost $100 billion annually, according to the USDA.

And that’s before we even get to the fraud.

In fiscal year 2023 alone, SNAP paid out $10.5 billion improperly — a polite government phrase for “fraud.” Critics have also pointed out how the benefits are used. According to USDA data, as of 2016, SNAP households spent 20.5% of their benefits on sugary snacks, soft drinks, and desserts. So much for “nutrition.”

A legal battle broke out when the administration refused to cover the program’s full monthly cost of $8.5 to $9 billion during the shutdown. On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration was allowed to withhold SNAP funding throughout the 43-day shutdown — the longest in American history.

So yes, under Trump’s policy, able-bodied adults might now have to do the unthinkable: work roughly 20 hours a week to receive taxpayer-funded benefits.

For some people, apparently, that’s just asking too much.