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SNAP

The Shutdown Is Over, But Millions Are Set To Lose Food Stamps

The roughly 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps did not receive their November 1 SNAP benefits as the government shutdown dragged on. The missed payments came just as the holiday season began, leaving many families struggling to put food on the table. Lines at food banks backed up traffic across the country. The Trump administration defied federal court orders to restore full funding to the program before the Supreme Court’s conservative majority temporarily greenlit the freeze. The White House even tried to claw back funding from states that had already distributed it to hungry families.

Kentucky Organizers Fill The Gaps As SNAP Delays Leave Families In Limbo

“I was expecting, maybe, four of us?” Willa Johnson remarked, earning a few laughs around the table. She sat among about 20 familiar friends and new faces. Most were residents of Letcher County in southeast Kentucky. All were committed to helping their neighbors through food insecurity amid the federal government shutdown. Two days earlier, Johnson made a post in a new mutual aid Facebook group, ‘Kinfolks Feeding Kinfolks,’ asking for locals to help fill the gap if the shutdown halted food aid benefits. She gave a statement, date, time, location and a plea to leave politics at the door. “After the floods in 2022, we saw the very best of that neighborly love in action.

SNAP Cuts Disproportionately Hurt People With Disabilities

The ongoing shutdown of the US federal government threatens the distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits this November. States, localities, and anti-hunger organizations are scrambling to fill the gap in federal assistance amid a massive wave of food insecurity. While two federal judges have ruled that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) must use contingency funds to keep SNAP flowing, the Trump administration announced on November 3rd that it will only cover a fraction of the usual benefits.

As SNAP Benefits Dry Up, Philly Organizations Pivot To Meet Needs

Linda James-Rivera says she’s seeing some of the highest levels of food insecurity in her Philadelphia communities since she founded the Northwest Mutual Aid Collective during the pandemic. “I just signed up five families in two days,” James-Rivera says of the group’s free delivery service, providing fresh produce and pantry essentials to seniors, disabled residents and low-income families across Northwest Philly. “That is the first time that has ever happened.” With the government shutdown still underway, she is one of many organizational leaders preparing for Nov. 1, when approximately 42 million citizens across the nation will lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, food benefits.

The Shutdown And Neverending Hostility To The Welfare State

Anyone who ponders whether or not the United States is a failed state operating at the behest of the ruling class and their corrupt political system need only observe that the federal government ceased operations after the fiscal year ended on September 30. Immediately, more than 2 million federal workers were furloughed and have not been paid since, while some categories of employees, such as air traffic controllers, must work without pay. Having two million people suddenly out of work is not the end of the economic devastation. The federal government cannot expend any money. On November 1 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will not be paid and the Trump administration refuses to use an available source of emergency funds. Some 42 million recipients are at risk of being unable to buy food.

SNAP Axe Could Fall On Grocery Shoppers And Workers Alike

Beginning November 1, 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as “food stamps,” are set to go without benefits. Among them are union members in underpaid industries like grocery and retail. SNAP keeps millions of Americans and their families from going hungry. Due to the government shutdown, new SNAP funding has not been allocated by Congress, and existing funding has run out. This would be the first time in the program’s 61-year history that SNAP benefits have not been paid. For years Congress has appropriated a SNAP contingency fund to cover emergencies like a shutdown. UFCW Votes, the United Food and Commercial Workers’ political arm, has launched a petition calling for the release of these funds, something the AFL-CIO and 25 other unions are also calling for.

Debt Ceiling Hypocrisy: US Boosts Military Budget, Restricts Food Stamps

The US government reached its debt limit of $31.4 trillion in early 2023. This unleashed a deluge of debate as to whether or not the Treasury was going to default, and how a deeply divided Congress could come to an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. The constant chatter in the mainstream corporate media overlooked the real controversy, however. The reality is that practically no one in Washington truly cares about the US national debt. In fact, in a bipartisan deal negotiated in late May to raise the debt ceiling, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy agreed not to cut but rather to increase the already massive military budget from roughly $800 billion to $886 billion.
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