Funding for the U.S. government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program is set to expire in November leaving millions without benefits, although a U.S. federal judge may order the Trump administration to utilize an emergency fund to make sure some money goes out next month.
“Right now, Congress has put money in an emergency fund for an emergency, and it’s hard for me to understand how this isn’t an emergency when there’s no money and a lot of people are needing their SNAP benefits,” U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said during an 30 October hearing, according to CNN.
Millions of Americans are set to lose access to SNAP benefits in November, as funding expired amid the ongoing government shutdown.
According to a Congressional report, an average of 41.7 million individuals participated in SNAP during fiscal year 2024, with monthly benefits averaging USD 187.17 (EUR 161.81) per person. Roughly 93 percent of the USD 100.3 billion (EUR 86.7 billion) spent on the program that year went directly to benefits.
"As an industry that serves families in every community in America, we know firsthand how essential federal hunger and nutrition programs like SNAP and WIC [The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children] are to customers experiencing difficult times and to the overall stability of our food system. When one leg of the stool that the government committed to provide is removed, it doesn’t just affect customers’ ability to feed their families; it also impacts store scheduling of employees, supplier orders and staffing, and the tax base of local economies across the country,” FMI - The Food Industry Association Chief Public Policy Officer Jennifer Hatcher said in a statement urging Congress to restore federal funding.
Republicans and Democrats have each blamed the other for the lapse in funding as the shutdown prepares to enter a second month. Republicans have tried to use the issue as leverage in their efforts to convince Senate Democrats to approve a continuing resolution to reopen the government, while Democrats have demanded a bill that would only fund SNAP and WIC.
“42 [million] Americans face hunger 1 Nov[ember] without SNAP funding. Senate Dems voted 13x against a clean [continuing resolution] to keep families fed. Democrats are running out of excuses. OPEN. THE. GOVERNMENT.” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a social media post.
“Donald Trump is a vindictive politician and a heartless man. Let's be clear: This does not need to happen. Never before, under any president, Democrat or Republican, has SNAP been cut off in a shutdown, and Trump knows he can do it,” U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said in a release.
While the U.S. Department of Agriculture – which administers SNAP – does have a USD 5.3 billion (EUR 4.6 billion) contingency fund, the Trump administration has declined to utilize it, arguing that it still falls short of the monthly costs of the program.
On 28 October, officials from 25 states sued the administration to force it to use the fund.
“While Donald Trump parades around the world trying to repair the economic damage he’s done with his incompetence, he’s denying food to millions of Americans who will go hungry next month. It’s cruel and speaks to his basic lack of humanity. He doesn’t care about the people of this country, only himself,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement about the lawsuit.
During a 30 October hearing, Talwani suggested she may order the government to take funding from the emergency account to fund SNAP benefits.
Though such an order would make sure some November benefits go out, the last-minute nature of the order means those payments would likely be delayed, with some deadlines for state programs having already passed, and it’s unclear if recipients would receive the full amount they’re entitled to under the program.
