An average of 41.7 million Americans relied on food stamps to feed themselves and their families in 2024. During the recent government shutdown, the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits that provide these food stamps were very close to being put on the chopping block.

The government shutdown began on Oct. 1, 2025 and ended on Nov. 12, 2025. The government has a limited amount of money during a shutdown, and they sometimes need to cut or limit certain programs. The Trump administration proposed money should be cut from SNAP. This is a terrible idea due to it possibly leaving millions of Americans without a stable source of food. SNAP should always be maintained unless it is completely impossible to do so. There were many other ways that the government could obtain or save money, such as increasing taxes on the wealthy or simply working on ending the shutdown earlier.

The court order to fully fund SNAP during the government shutdown was blocked by the Trump administration. Fortunately, a couple of states such as Wisconsin, Oregon and Hawaii were able to send out the full November SNAP payments to some recipients before the order was blocked. However in Pennsylvania and many other states, the order was blocked before any payments were sent out and people were only able to receive their SNAP payments when the shutdown ended. During the government shutdown, food banks saw up to a 1800% surge in demand due to it being one of the only other resources for people in need to receive food.

Even if the shutdown is over now and states are allowed to send out SNAP payments, it’s still sickening that blocking it was even considered in the first place. Food should be a right not a privilege only for the people that can afford it. The economy is in a bad state currently and many people are relying on food stamps to get by. If this shutdown went on any longer then thousands of people could have gone hungry.

It is deeply concerning that people less fortunate than others were tossed to the side so easily. The top priority for the people in power should be to keep all of their citizens happy and safe. However, in recent times it seems like they’re prioritizing the opposite with keeping themselves and others in power happy rather than their own citizens.