No SNAP Benefits to be Issued Nov. 1, USDA Says

CBS News reported that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out on Nov. 1, raising the stakes for families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on.”

“The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November. That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries,” CBS News reported. “‘Bottom line, the well has run dry,’ the USDA notice says. ‘At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.'”

“The shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record,” CBS News reported. “While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days.”

“Democratic lawmakers have written to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting that she use contingency funds to cover the bulk of next month’s benefits,” CBS News reported. “But a USDA memo that surfaced Friday says ‘contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits.’ The document says the money is reserved for such things as helping people in disaster areas. The memo cited Hurricane Melissa, which has strengthened into a major hurricane, as an example of why it’s important to have the money available to mobilize quickly in the event of a disaster.”

Food Banks Brace for Surge Across the U.S.

Reuters’ Leah Douglas and P.J. Huffstutter reported that “nine food banks and anti-hunger groups in eight states told Reuters they will struggle to absorb higher demand if November SNAP benefits are not distributed. The shutdown, now the second-longest in history, has prevented Congress from funding the benefits, which reach more than 41 million Americans.”

“Hunger in the U.S. is already on a multi-year rise. The administration of President Donald Trump has cut some federal food bank funding and hiked SNAP work requirements, which could push some people off the program,” Douglas and Huffstutter reported. “States warned this week that hunger could surge if SNAP benefits lapse. The shutdown also threatens benefits for nearly 7 million participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC.”

“Food banks have already seen record demand in recent years as food price inflation and the long tail of the COVID-19 pandemic strain household budgets,” Douglas and Huffstutter reported. “More than 50 million people received food from food banks, pantries and other charitable sources in 2023, compared to roughly 40 million in 2019, according to Feeding America, a national food bank network.”

Democrats Planning to Sue

Politico’s Meredith Lee Hill reported that “dozens of Democratic attorneys general and governors are planning to sue President Donald Trump’s administration Tuesday over its decision to not tap emergency funds amid the government shutdown to keep food aid flowing to 42 million Americans next month, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of a public announcement.”

“Trump officials concluded in a Friday memo that they cannot legally tap a $5 billion contingency fund for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program amid the shutdown to pay benefits in November,” Lee Hill reported. “Some in the administration believe, with $9 billion needed to fund SNAP payments for the month, there is no time to distribute smaller payments to individual states.”

“Administration officials anticipated their legal determination would be challenged in court, POLITICO reported last week, and there are no serious efforts underway at USDA to find other sources of funding, according to two other people granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations,” Lee Hill reported. “But some GOP lawmakers whose constituents would be clobbered by a first-ever lapse of federal food benefits, are pushing for some kind of patch to prevent that from happening.”

“Senate Republicans are divided over whether to vote on a standalone bill to keep SNAP beneficiaries — many of whom live in rural and Hispanic-majority Republican districts — from losing assistance,” Lee Hill reported. “Many argue Democrats will be at fault if the Friday deadline barrels past with no fix as they continue to push Democratic senators to vote for the stopgap spending bill the House passed last month.”