The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, is the nation’s largest federal food assistance program that offers help to people in low-income households. 83% of last year’s SNAP benefits were spent towards households with children, elderly or a person with a disability according to CNN. The assistance is offered through an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card, which looks and works similar to a debit card. Only certain retailers such as grocery stores, convenience stores and farmers markets accept money on an EBT card, ensuring that the support is used for the base needs of the assisted. Between Oct. 1, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024, Federal SNAP spending reached nearly $100 billion. In comparison, the United States federal government spent $6.8 trillion that same year.
As a federal program, SNAP depends on the money the government allocates to it in their annual budget. However, the U.S. Congress failed to pass a national budget by Oct. 1, 2025 for the following fiscal year. Without a budget to follow, many federal programs were left without new funding, causing a government shutdown. SNAP works by paying out money to EBT cards monthly, and that worked throughout the month of October with the funding the program had ready to go. Yet, because of the government shutdown, SNAP did not have the funds to pay assistance for the month of November entirely. A memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture halted a contingency plan with back-up financing that would last about 65% of November, stating that those funds could only be used for natural disasters, leaving all those who rely on SNAP without its assistance.
The crisis this delay had quickly caused was imperative. Because of the U.S. Congress’s failure to pass a budget during what is now considered the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, millions of Americans and households no longer had the resources for their basic nutritional needs. 12% of the U.S. population is enrolled in SNAP benefits currently. That is about 42 million Americans.
Without SNAP benefits to spend on grocery stores and farmers markets, the food industry was also left with insecurity. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates SNAP requires a total of $8.2 billion in benefits for the full month of November. That means grocery stores, farmers and the industry overall was missing $8.2 billion in revenues.
Although the government shutdown officially ended when a national budget passed legislation on Nov. 12, 2025, this issue should never have come up in the first place. Twelve days of struggle for 12% of the U.S. population for basic human needs and nutrition that never needed to happen. Twelve days of unease, insecurity and scraping up money for the basic human right to eat for 42 million Americans all caused by the disagreement within the highest levels of government.
If it was not spelled out clearly enough in the echo chambers built on social media, families torn apart and politically motivated violence, then surely it is now. Political polarization has become far too extreme in the U.S. and is considered normal or even acceptable. Extremism in politics and the disagreements following that is the direct cause of almost two weeks of 42 million Americans, including children, elderly and people with disabilities, stripped of their human right to not starve.
The U.S. cannot risk having a situation like this again. If the federal government cannot ensure its citizens will not go hungry, then that gets pushed onto states and local communities, some of which are already impoverished as a whole.
I truly wish I had a solution or that there would be someone with all the answers, but the reality is that this problem is not simple. It is systemic. No one person can solve it. I find it incredibly ridiculous and dystopian that believing everyone deserves access to a hot meal is considered political, controversial and up for debate. It should be obvious.