Overview
- On-the-ground reporting from The Nation, summarized by Alternet, captures frustration among working-class residents who backed Trump but fear losing food assistance.
- The law extends work mandates to roughly 50,000 Kentuckians ages 54 to 65 and tightens rules for caregivers with older children, military veterans, and people experiencing homelessness.
- Kentucky’s vulnerability is underscored by high food insecurity among adults over 50, according to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.
- In Martin County, where about 23% of residents rely on SNAP and Trump won 91% of the 2024 vote, interviewees describe feeling misled by economic promises.
- The article situates the coming changes against a year of instability for food aid, noting the 2025 shutdown caused the deepest SNAP disruption since the program was made permanent in the 1960s.