November 6, 2025
U.S. leaders have long taken some responsibility for helping poor people meet basic nutritional needs. It seems this era is over.
Jacqueline Benitez uses SNAP benefits to supplement her income as a preschool teacher in Bellflower, California.
(Allison Dinner/AP Photo)
In October millions rallied across America to remind Donald Trump that this nation does not answer to any king. However, last week a scene worthy of Versailles unfolded: while Trump was building his $300 million ballroomThe United States prepared to face widespread famine.
Given that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding is planned run out Because of the government shutdown, the Trump administration not only refused to prevent the crisis, it fought in court deprive 42 million SNAP recipients of money for groceries. Fortunately, a federal judge ruled against the government and ordered that SNAP benefits continue. On Monday, the administration said it would finance only half typical benefits of recipients. AND 2.4 million however, people soon risk losing their benefits because US$186 billion in SNAP cuts in Trump's vague budget bill. comes into force.
America has always faced hunger, but its leaders have long shown some responsibility in helping poor people meet their most basic nutritional needs. The fact that even this small measure of decency appears to be a thing of the past signals the beginning of an unprecedented era of cruelty.
SNAP, or food stamps, is one of the pillars of the country's frayed social safety net. Over 12 percent population receives SNAP benefits to purchase groceries, and the program is available only to those whose net household income is at or below the poverty level. federal poverty line. For a family of four it's easy US$32,150 per year.
While leading Republicans insist that social safety net programs are being abused by healthy young people who choose to gamble video games to keeping a job, most SNAP recipients are excluded from the labor force by age or ability—approximately 40 percent of recipients childrenand another 30 percent are over 60 years old or have disability. Many of the remaining SNAP recipients are of working age and working age Jobsince even full-time work does not provide any guarantee that the family will deprive itself of the right to receive benefits. Walmart and McDonald's are increasing their profits in part by offering wages so low that both companies were ranked among the best in 2020 employers SNAP recipients.
Since the start of the shutdown last month, the Trump administration distorted military budgets to finance the salaries of military personnel and adopted possibly illegal $130 million donation, as reported by Republican megadonor Timothy Mellonto raise store wages. But despite being in the $5 billion SNAP emergency fund, The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) insisted that he had no authority to use the money.
Current number
This is clearly a disingenuous argument. Just a few weeks ago the agency's website chosen one shutdown plan, which outlines the intent to use the emergency chest to keep SNAP afloat. But the information was removed from the site, because in the hope of pressure Democrats, to end the shutdown, Republicans decided to play a game of chicken that put 42 million people's ability to eat at risk. 25 states on Tuesday sued The USDA should force the agency to fund SNAP. Rhode Island District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. dismantled the government's frivolous lawsuits and ordered on Friday, the USDA will use reserve funds.
The White House Budget Office did not release immediate comment To New York Times on this failure in their attempts to deprive Americans of food. However, the President did post some messages on Truth Social. bright photos renovating his all-marble bathroom in Lincoln.
The ruling and the administration's announcement Monday are sure to bring some relief to SNAP users. But for those targeted by Trump's cuts to the program, hunger still looms. Most refugees, asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking and other legal immigrants who do not have a green card are ready lose your payments. If they turn to food pantries recently emptied by the Trump regime $500 million federal funding – they will find that even these places of last resort warping with increasing demand. SNAP operating requirements will now apply to groups. previously released from them, including homeless people, veterans and young people leaving care.
The idea that the unemployed don't deserve to eat goes against the original purpose of food stamps, which were first introduced during the mass unemployment of the Great Depression. Back in the early 1970s, the simple moral call to feed the hungry was somewhat bipartisan. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson open modern food stamp program, but Richard Nixon expanded it and even swore “end hunger in America.”
Under Ronald Reagan, however, Republican antipathy toward food stamps took hold. now a familiar shape. Reagan named food stamps among the ill-gotten gains of his infamous welfare queenAnd warned “tying up young bucks” with a program to buy T-bone steaks. He abandoned million recipients from the rolls in his first year in office.
Today, the Reagan-style demonization of the poor lives on in Newsmax segments What false claim that the majority of SNAP recipients are immigrants, and in a viral but completely fictitious Videos created by artificial intelligence black women outraged by the loss of their benefits. Concerns about luxury purchases also remain. In 2015, Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin, subscribed on measures aimed at preventing SNAP users from purchasing shellfish. God forbid a poor family cook scampi.
Decades of punitive and inhumane actions and rhetoric have apparently convinced the Trump administration that it can condemn millions of Americans to hunger without facing devastating political consequences. However, as the White House attempted to abandon the nation it was charged with protecting, other agencies and individuals rallied to help their communities fight hunger. Virginia And Delaware Governors Glenn Youngkin and Matt Meyer have promised their states will fund SNAP benefits for residents through November. Many other states have vowed to declare states of emergency. support to food banks. And in local Facebook groups, strangers paired up: “grocery shopping buddies“, with one helping the other buy food.
However, emergency measures and good deeds are not a long-term solution, especially for those whose benefits are on the chopping block. As Joel Berg, CEO of the nonprofit Hunger Free America, said, wrote for Nation This week, progressives should push for a full range of social and financial reforms to ensure Americans can not just “get by, but actually get ahead.” Until then, too many Americans will continue to live on the edge, their next meal dependent on the whims of the White House.
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