Politics > Plates

The government shutdown is causing tens of millions of Americans to be hungry. The United States' federal government officially shut down at midnight on October 1, 2025. Every year, Congress votes on 12 bills that fund every part of the government. If those 12 bills are not all passed by October 1st every year, and a temporary funding measure called a Continuing Resolution is not enacted, the government "shuts down". A governmental shutdown means that many federal agencies stop non-essential work and federal workers do not get paid until the shutdown ends. Furthermore, essential federal workers such as TSA agents and Military personnel must continue working without pay until the shutdown has elapsed.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as EBT or food stamps, gives a monthly budget to about 42 million low-income Americans to help them buy groceries. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds this program, but because the funding bills did not pass, the USDA can not fund SNAP. The only money left for this program is from a small contingency fund, which is effectively an emergency savings account. That fund only contained about five billion dollars, but SNAP spends up to nine billion dollars per month in order to feed everyone who relies on it. In other words, there was just over two weeks' worth of SNAP benefits left. According to the USDA, there are four to five billion dollars remaining in the contingency fund designated for November. Once this amount is spent, there will be nothing left.

If Congress does not pass the 12 bills, or a Continuing Resolution, there will be no SNAP benefits, and millions will starve. The shutdown happened because the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and the Democratic majority in the Senate passed drastically different funding bills and refused to compromise by the deadline. Many Democrats have condemned Republicans, and numerous Republicans place the blame on Democrats. The most important point is that not one party is at fault: it is the Congress's responsibility to pass these funding bills, and neither group compromised, placing both at fault. The only reasonable course of action is for Congress to pass a Continuing Resolution immediately to reopen the government and continue funding SNAP and other necessary programs. People need to eat.