If the federal government shutdown continues, millions of low-income Americans could lose access to a monthly benefit that pays for food.
About 42 million people receive money through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, sometimes called food stamps. The U.S. Agriculture Department told states in an Oct. 10 letter that if the shutdown continues, the program will run out of money to pay for benefits in November.
The Trump administration blamed Democrats, with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins repeating a false health care talking point Oct. 16 on X: “Democrats are putting free health care for illegal aliens and their political agenda ahead of food security for American families. Shameful.”
The government shutdown stems from disagreements between Democrats, who want to extend expiring enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act as part of approving continued federal funding, and Republicans, who want to extend federal funding first, before negotiating over whether or how to extend the ACA subsidies.
SNAP is a federal program operated by state agencies.
Participants receive an average individual monthly benefit of about $190or $356 per household. Recipients can use the benefits to buy fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, bread and other foods. The majority of SNAP households live in poverty.
Lawmakers and social media users have made several statements about SNAP with varying degrees of accuracy about the shutdown or the Republican tax and spending law that Trump signed in July. Here’s a closer look.
Social media posts say food stamps will disappear Nov 1.
Many social media posts say that food stamps are going away as soon as Nov. 1.
“Let that sink in — just in time for the cold season and the month of giving thanks,” said one Instagram post.
That could happen for millions of people. But it might not happen for all of them, and it could happen throughout the month of November because the monthly date when people receive their benefits varies by state.
The Trump administration could use SNAP’s contingency fund to pay for nearly two-thirds of a full month of benefits, or it could transfer other Agriculture Department funds, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Prioritiesa liberal think tank. The administration has said it has found funding to continue the Women, Infants and Children program, another food program for low-income families.
The Agriculture Department’s funding lapse plan says SNAP “shall continue operations during a lapse in appropriations, subject to the availability of funding.”
The Agriculture Department’s letter told states to hold off on steps that would lead to people receiving their November benefits. Federal regulations require that reductions be made in a way that higher-income recipients lose more benefits than the lowest-income recipients.
We asked administration officials for more detail but received no response to our questions.
Many state officials including in Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin said if the shutdown continues, participants might not or will not receive benefits in November. A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Children and Families told PolitiFact that if the shutdown continues into November, benefits will not be issued.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., said Oct. 22 that he will deploy the California National Guard and California Volunteers, a state office, to support food banks and provide $80 million in state money.
“Empty cupboards and stomachs are not abstract outcomes,” Gov. Tony Evers, D-Wis., told Rollins in an Oct. 22 letter. “They are the very real and near consequences of the dysfunction in Washington. These are also consequences you can prevent today.”
Meanwhile, food banks across the country have taken a hit from other Trump administration policies. ProPublica reported Oct. 3 that in the spring the administration cut $500 million in deliveries through The Emergency Food Assistance Programwhich provides food to state distribution agencies.
“We are not cutting” SNAP.
— House Speaker Mike Johnson on “Face the Nation,” May 25
This is False.
Johnson spoke after the House passed a GOP-backed bill, known at the time as the One Big Beautiful Bill, that included many of Trump’s policy priorities.
The Congressional Budget Office, Congress’ nonpartisan number-crunching arm, estimated in May that 3.2 million fewer people per month on average would receive benefits over the next nine years based on the bill’s changes to work requirements and restrictions on states’ ability to waive the work requirements in areas with high unemployment.
A more recent August CBO analysis estimated that the changes would reduce participation in SNAP by roughly 2.4 million people.
“Nearly 25 cents of every $1 spent via SNAP goes to farmers and ranchers.”
— Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, in a June 12 X post
This is True.
In a series of X postsHong said it wouldn’t be only families receiving food aid that would be hurt by the legislation.
A chart published earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service shows that in 2023, farm establishments made 24.3 cents for every dollar spent on food at home, including at grocery stores and supermarkets.
“About 20% of households with veterans rely upon” SNAP.
— House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, in a May 8 press conference
This is Mostly False.
An April 2 study found that 8% of veterans rely on SNAP benefits. No state had a share higher than 14%. Studies with data from a few years earlier show rates from 4.9% to 6.6%.
Chief Correspondent Louis Jacobson, Staff Writer Loreben Tuquero and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Madeline Heim contributed to this article.
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