Overview
- Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the ABAWD requirement expands in December to most adults ages 18 to 64, including parents without children under 14, requiring at least 80 hours a month of work, training or qualifying activities or facing a three‑months‑in‑three‑years time limit.
- Automatic exemptions end for people experiencing homelessness, many veterans and some former foster youth, while exemptions remain for minors, adults over 64, pregnant people and those with certified disabilities.
- USDA confirmed December SNAP deposits will be issued on each state’s normal calendar following the 43‑day federal shutdown, restoring predictable disbursement timing for beneficiaries.
- Twenty Democratic attorneys general and the District of Columbia urged USDA to correct October guidance on immigrant eligibility, arguing it misreads the law and would wrongly deny benefits to refugees, asylees and other humanitarian entrants.
- The Congressional Budget Office projects roughly 2.4 million fewer average monthly participants through 2034 and about 90,000 legal immigrants a month affected, as the law also tightens area waivers to counties with unemployment above 10%, with separate thresholds for Alaska and Hawaii.