Gia Haley tries to survive on water and coffee.
Haley, 41, said she hasn't had food since Oct. 29, and the $298 monthly food assistance she receives didn't arrive as usual on Wednesday.
“Black coffee kills my appetite,” she said.
Haley is one of more than 40 million people across the country who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal benefit that dates back to the late 1930s. But disruptions to the SNAP program, also known as food stamps, during the longest government shutdown in American history recipients were left facing inevitable famineunable to restock their pantries or refrigerators.
Although the Trump administration said that partial funds will be distributed this month – answer to the claim challenging plan to suspend SNAP benefits during quarantine – recipients who were supposed to receive benefits this week have empty balances.
On Thursday, a federal judge in the lawsuit ordered the Trump administration to fully distribute SNAP funding. to states by Friday, although it remains to be seen whether recipients' electronic benefit cards will be replenished as quickly. Formerly Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said it could take a few weeks to be useful.
The delay has already forced millions of families to make do with small donations from food banks or the generosity of loved ones. Many face the prospect of not paying their food bills or, like Hayley, giving up food altogether.
“At some point I will have hunger pains, but I just ignore them,” she said, fighting back tears. “I just tell myself I’m starving.”
SNAP has never been suspended during a government shutdown before. The turmoil – and the resulting uncertainty about when their electronic benefit cards will be topped up – has left recipients in a tense situation, with many parents unsure about how they will feed their children.
“I didn’t sleep,” said Erica Arneson, 40, a single mother who is disabled and lives in Tacoma, Washington. “I'm so stressed I can't sleep all night.”
Arneson said she was due to receive $546 in SNAP benefits on Monday, but her account balance is still zero. She apologized to her 17-year-old son for not being able to bring him his favorite food.
“I had to tell him last night that we can’t make burritos until I don’t know when because we don’t have any meat or cheese,” she said.
Kaylee Green's account is also empty. Starting Saturday, she needed $1,000 on her EBT card to feed her family of four.
“It breaks my heart because I have never had to tell my kids no to food. They know when I get food stamps, so they say, “Mom, your food money should be here.” And I try to explain to them that we don’t get money for food right now,” said Green, 33, who lives in Monticello, New York, a rural community about two hours from Manhattan.
In a lawsuit over SNAP funding, the Agriculture Department argued that it could not legally use reserve funds for the program during the shutdown because the money was intended for situations such as natural disasters. After a federal judge last week ordered the Trump administration to distribute benefits “as quickly as possible,” the administration said it would partially fund the program in November. It was planned to use $4.65 billion from reserve funds for covers 65% of the plots that eligible households typically receive.
Thursday's order that the administration must immediately distribute full SNAP funding came in response to an emergency filing from Democracy Forward, the progressive group that filed the lawsuit.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Asked about delayed SNAP payments and recipient concerns, a USDA spokesman said in a statement that Senate Democrats have “voted against reopening the government 14 times” and are “suspensing services to the American people.”
In Midlothian, Texas, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, Amber Templin struggles to feed her five children, including two she says have special needs and eat limited diets. Templin, 31, said she has no money saved.
She said she typically receives a $540 deposit on her EBT card on the sixth of each month. But the state health department told her via text message that her funds “will not be released at this time,” leaving her balance at zero on Thursday.
“What do we do? Now we have to choose between food and bills,” Templin said. “Are we going to keep a roof over our heads or am I going to have to feed my kids? Do I pay for electricity or do I feed my kids?”
Templin makes a living cleaning homes and offices. She opened a small business in March. But business has slowed since the summer, so she applied for various part-time positions, including at a gas station, a towing company, a hotel and some grocery stores. Even if she gets one of these positions, the salary will be low.
“Nobody wants to pay part-time workers enough to feed their family,” Templin said.
She has heard that some SNAP beneficiaries donate blood or plasma for extra money. But Templin said she couldn't even do that because she has cirrhosis of the liver and anemia.
Food banks across the country say they are struggling due to the overwhelming need. Operation Find Food, which serves residents in Illinois and Missouri, is experiencing record demand, according to Kristen Wild, the organization's president. Wild said some food pantries have been forced to limit the amount they give to families or the number of times families can visit them. Others closed early because they ran out of food, she said.
“The fact that people haven't had those funds on their EBT cards since Saturday has left people in a desperate situation and going hungry—not just not eating well or not eating nutritiously, but not having food to put on the table,” Wild said.
She said her organization is relying on private and corporate donations to get through this moment. Dozens of states have also freed up funds to support food banks or compensate for the loss of SNAP benefits.
