Americans brace for food stamps to run out: ‘the greatest hunger catastrophe since the Great Depression’ | US federal government shutdown 2025

TTwo decades ago, Sara Carlson, then a mother of three, was newly single following a traumatic event, and the U.S. food stamp program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), helped her feed her children with free food.

“I wouldn’t have been able to afford to live,” said Carlson, 45, who lives in Rochester, Minn., and now works as director of operations for a wealth management company and serves on the board of directors for the Channel One regional food bank, which works to increase access to food.

Although food stamps helped, the government cut her off after a few years because she started making too much money, which meant she had to worry about having enough food again.

Now, nearly 42 million people across the country could suffer the same fate if the federal government shutdown continues and Snap’s funding is cut off on November 1.

While Republicans have sought to blame Democrats for the potential loss of benefits that low-income earners rely on, those who work in the area of ​​food insecurity say that is misleading because Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act has already eliminated nearly $187 billion in funding for Snap through 2024, according to an estimate from the Budget Office. Congress.

If funding runs out at the end of the month, “we will experience the greatest food disaster in America since the Great Depression, and I don’t mean that as hyperbole,” said Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America.

Snap supports working families in low-paying jobs, low-income people ages 60 and older, and people with disabilities living on fixed incomes, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Snap participants generally must be at or below 130% of the federal poverty level. The average participant receives about $187 per month, the center reports.

The Department of Agriculture recently sent a letter to Snap’s regional directors warning them that Snap’s funding would run out at the end of the month and ordering them to suspend payments “until further notice.”

More than 200 Democratic representatives urged the USDA to use contingency funds to continue paying Snap benefits.

“There are clear steps the administration can and must take immediately to ensure that millions of families across the country can put food on their tables this November,” a letter from lawmakers to the USDA said. “Providing SNAP benefits to those in need this November would be a flagrant dereliction of your responsibilities to the American people. We appreciate your consideration of these requests.”

Democrats have declined to pass a funding resolution to reopen the government because they want the legislation to include provisions to maintain health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which the Trump administration eliminated and is set to expire at the end of the year.

A USDA spokesperson blamed Democrats for the upcoming loss of Snap benefits.

“We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats,” the spokesperson told Fox News. “Continue to defend health care for illegal immigrants or reopen government so that mothers and the most vulnerable among us can receive WIC in a timely manner. [special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children] and Snap allowances.”

This statement is inaccurate: undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Affordable Care Act subsidies.

While his organization focuses on food insecurity, Berg supports Democrats in their fight for health care subsidies because “it has serious implications for the people we represent,” he said.

“The population receiving the health subsidies may have slightly higher income than the people receiving Snap, but there is certainly a lot of overlap,” Berg said.

Brittany, a 38-year-old mother of three, lives in Greenup, Kentucky, and works 35 to 40 hours a week as a home health nurse.

She has also benefited from Snap benefits for several years.

“It’s not like I’m getting benefits and not working,” Brittany said, pushing back against the misconception that people who receive food stamps just sit on the couch.

They allow her to get “most of the necessities throughout the month and then I just pay cash for the rest,” said Brittany, who did not want her last name used.

If Snap funding is cut, she said, she would have weekend work to make up the difference, which would mean she would have “virtually no time with my kids.”

She nonetheless supports Trump and accuses Democrats of being responsible for the shutdown because “they don’t agree with anything the Republicans are proposing.”