The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last Friday that it will stop distributing payments for essential food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) starting November 1 if the federal government is still shut down. Suspending these payments would force tens of millions to cut back on food, undermining their human rights.
Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, calling the suspension of SNAP funds “unlawful.”
The government shutdown began on October 1, as Congress was unable to agree on legislation to fund the federal government’s operations. SNAP, also called “food stamps,” is the largest food assistance program in the United States, reaching nearly 42 million people in 2024. Access to SNAP is available only to households earning below specific income limits and meeting other often-restrictive eligibility requirements. Most working-age, non-disabled adults receiving SNAP are employed but earn too little to cover essential expenses. Studies have consistently shown that SNAP improves nutrition and health outcomes.
The USDA, which provides most of the funding for the state-administered program, said it will not use $5 billion of contingency funds earmarked for SNAP to maintain benefits for at least a while longer during the shutdown. This is a departure from the agency’s own previous guidance on the use of contingency funds during a shutdown as well as a 2019 report from the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s independent auditing and investigations agency, which made clear that the contingency funds could be used for this purpose.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which passed in July, reduced federal funding for social protection programs like SNAP, in large part to help finance tax cuts that mainly accrue to wealthy households and large corporations. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the law will cut funding for SNAP by $187 billion over ten years. These cuts took place despite long-standing concerns that benefit levels were already too low and coverage insufficient.
A report by the United Nations’ expert on extreme poverty and human rights warned that such reductions in social protection can further erode public trust in government institutions and fuel far-right populism.
With the rights of tens of millions of people at risk, the Trump administration and Congress should immediately allocate the funds necessary to maintain SNAP during the shutdown. The US should ensure that no one’s ability to eat is made a pawn in a game of political chess.
