After the Shutdown Ends, Millions Will Still Lose Food Aid

The roughly 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps did not receive their November 1 SNAP benefits as the government shutdown entered its sixth week. The missed payments come just as the holiday season begins, leaving many families struggling to put food on the table.

But even when the shutdown ends, the threat to the nation’s primary nutrition assistance program won’t be over. When the government reopens, millions will still lose access to food assistance.

The “Big Beautiful Bill” passed earlier this year guts core safety net programs to fund tax cuts for billionaires, mass deportation efforts, and bloated military spending. The GOP law includes the largest SNAP cuts in history, slashing our most important and effective anti-hunger program by roughly 20 percent.

People in every state are at risk of losing their food benefits. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has calculated state-based estimates of the number of people who would be at risk of losing some or all their benefits under the law’s work requirements, with California having the largest at-risk population, at 368,000.

One of the main ways the bill cuts SNAP is by expanding harsh and ineffective work requirements. These new rules will strip food assistance from millions of people, including children, seniors, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the change would cause 2.4 million people to lose benefits in an average month.

Research shows such requirements have little effect on employment: most working-age adults enrolled in these programs are already working, and those who are not employed often face high barriers such as caregiving responsibilities or health conditions. Instead, many people who should qualify for SNAP will lose benefits due to red tape and administrative error.

The GOP law also shifts SNAP costs onto states for the first time in the program’s history. This vital food program has always been fully federally funded, but the new budget will require states to take on a significant share of expenses. The unprecedented burden shift will likely lead many states to cut enrollees or even terminate food aid programs for the first time since their inception, causing even more people to go hungry.

Federal courts have ordered the administration to resume SNAP payments amid the shutdown. On November 3, the Trump administration announced it would issue partial payments this month, offering only a temporary reprieve to low-income families. The payments are enough to cover just 50 percent of eligible households.

Even once the government resumes normal operations, the fight against hunger must continue. SNAP has long proven to be highly effective at reducing food insecurity and hunger, especially among children. We have the tools to fight hunger, and we must use them.

In the richest country in the world, no one should go hungry.

This first appeared on CEPR.

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