Overview:

For the first time since it was created 60 years ago the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which used to be called the Food Stamp Program, could allow millions of Americans to go hungry.

As the federal government shutdown grinds on into its fifth week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a harsh warning to food aid recipients: don’t expect to receive your monthly grocery benefits at the beginning of next month. USDA explicitly blamed Democrats for the problem. 

Senate Democrats “have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),” according to a notice posted — illegally — on the USDA website. “Bottom line, the well has run dry.”

Just In Time For the Holidays

But anti-hunger advocates say the notice is problematic, not just for its suspect grammar. They say the White House has refused to tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds that could keep SNAP recipients — a disproportionate number of whom are Black — from going hungry next month. 

The last time the federal government shut down, in 2018-2019 during the first Trump administration, the USDA did use contingency funds to continue serving recipients.

RELATED: USDA Warns States About November SNAP Benefits

Sharon Parrott, president of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and a former  White House budget official, says the federal government “has the authority and the tools it needs during a shutdown to get these SNAP funds to families.” 

“Even at this late date, the professionals at the Department of Agriculture, and in states, can make this happen,” she said. “And, to state the obvious, benefits that are a couple of days delayed are far more help to families than going without any help at all.”

Meanwhile, good-government watchdogs say the notice violates federal campaign laws, which prohibit the use of federal resources to make a direct political argument. 

Roughly 42 million people face hunger or food insecurity each month. Of those 25.7% of SNAP participants, approximately 10.2 million people are Black. Participants receive an average of $187 a month. 

Studies show the program reduces a family’s risk of food insecurity by almost 30% and helps keep millions of children above the poverty line. SNAP also helps boost local economies and protects recipients’ health. SNAP also helps boost local economies, and in 2023, the program accounted for 9.5% of the trillions of dollars spent to buy food.

An overwhelming majority of SNAP participants are families with children, and more than a third are older adults or people with disabilities. Each state has its own process for residents to apply for SNAP benefits. Applicants can find their state’s human services office at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service website. 

Emergency Funds Could Be Used

But public health and hunger prevention advocates also point out that the administration is ignoring a law that establishes a contingency fund for food programs, including SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. That program, also known as WIC, helps 6 million low-income pregnant and postpartum women, as well as children under age 5, buy nutritious food. 

Two weeks ago, the Trump administration used its authority to send $300 million in emergency funds to states whose WIC programs were about to shut down. 

Still, even if the federal government gets back to business soon, funding cuts mandated in the administration’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act will still slash millions of dollars from the SNAP budget. 

About 2.4 million people in an average month would see a cut in benefits, or lose them entirely, due to work requirements and other changes, according to the Congressional Budget Office.  The new law also shortens the amount of time some disabled individuals can receive benefits.

RELATED: WIC Program Gives Millions a Lifeline – and Gets a Temporary One

The shutdown is the result of a stalemate between Congressional Democrats and Republicans over funding the federal government. Though Democrats are in the minority, Republicans don’t have enough votes to pass a funding bill without Democratic help. 

As a result, Democrats are using their votes as leverage to reverse President Donald Trump’s cuts to healthcare subsidies. But the GOP is refusing to budge, and a seemingly intractable stalemate has ensued.

Last week, the Senate attempted to continue budget negotiations, including efforts to pay federal workers. But House Speaker Mike Johnson kept the House of Representatives closed for business. 

Parrot says it’s “unconscionable” for the White House to use the shutdown as cover to starve federal programs that help “millions of children, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, parents, and workers with hunger.”

The Trump administration, she says, should be “taking all legal steps available to provide food assistance to people who need it.” 

Resources

Find Help can help individuals locate free or reduced-cost food, housing, financial assistance, and other social services across the U.S.

Feeding America offers a food bank directory that individuals and families can access nationwide.

Apps such as Food Finder — Fighting Hunger and Too Good To Go: End Food Waste are also available on the Apple and Android platforms.

Jennifer Porter Gore is a writer living in the Washington, D.C., area.