The Trump administration is straight-up warning that a staggering 42 million Americans could lose their federal food stamps in just days if Congress can’t get its act together and end the current government shutdown.
This is a massive, immediate problem that everyone needs to be paying attention to, because the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made it crystal clear. They do not have the ability to reshuffle funds into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to cover the shortfall.
Come November 1, the money runs out, and if you’re one of those 42 million people, you’re looking at zero benefits. The situation is awful for anyone relying on this critical assistance, and it includes not just current SNAP recipients, but also furloughed Federal employees who won’t be receiving their combined October and November benefits, according to Fox.
To be fair, this isn’t some tiny program we’re talking about; it takes around $8 to $9 billion a month to cover all SNAP benefits. So, what’s happening is a political game of chicken where the most vulnerable are going to get run over if no one blinks.
Congress keeps the shutdown going because they’re not the ones who are hurting
On the one hand, Democrats have been pressing the Trump administration to use the federal government’s $5 billion SNAP contingency fund to cover at least some of the gap. They argue that the contingency fund is available “precisely for this reason.” It sounds logical, right? Use the emergency fund for the emergency. But the USDA is refusing to do so, arguing that the emergency funding is not “legally available” for regular benefits because, with the shutdown, the regular funding appropriation “no longer exists.”
Politics aside if the shutdown keeps going, what do you think happens first: health care costs spike, or the public finally starts holding both sides accountable?
— Anastasia(@Lianna_s7) October 27, 2025
Moving forward, the USDA doubled down, making a statement that they won’t shuffle funds from other areas because “Transfers from other sources would pull away funding for school meals and infant formula,” which is a bigger deal. Unfortunately, that means the administration is not pushing Congress to end this, which is going to eventually hurt those as well.
The USDA didn’t stop there. They released a statement, “Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 1. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.” So, back pay and all that is in the hands of people who are using this as a political move.
On the other hand, Democrats are insisting that the USDA has other options besides just the contingency fund. They’ve urged the department to use its “statutory transfer authority or any other legal authority at its disposal” to fully fund November benefits.
In this case, there is no good guy; both sides need to agree on something because regular citizens should not be pawns in their political games.
