What is SNAP?

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides monthly benefits that help more than 42 million low-income Americans buy food—keeping families fed and communities stable.

 

SNAP Crisis

The Beginning, July 2025 — Trump and Republicans pass the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBA), slashing SNAP, Medicaid, and ACA subsidies that help working families afford care to bankroll tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. It sets the stage for today’s crisis.

• The OBBBA requires states to pay part of SNAP food benefit costs for the first time. Most states would have to pay 5 to 15 percent of those costs starting in 2028, amounting to tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per state each year.

• If states couldn’t pay the required amounts, they would have to shrink the number of SNAP recipients or even opt out of SNAP entirely.

• SNAP food benefits have ALWAYS been 100 percent federally funded, ensuring that eligible low-income families can afford an adequate diet no matter what state they live in. The OBBBA walks away from that nationwide commitment to addressing hunger.

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The Continuation

• Oct. 1 — Budget talks collapse after Republicans refuse to drop healthcare and food assistance cuts that would drive domestic spending to its lowest level in modern history. The federal government shuts down.

• Oct. 26 — USDA warns that SNAP funding will run out if the shutdown continues.

• Oct. 31 — Two federal judges rule that freezing SNAP is unlawful—ordering the administration to tap $4.65B in emergency funds and urging USDA to use all available resources to keep benefits flowing.

• Nov. 1 — SNAP payments lapse for 42 million people—the first time in the program’s 60-year history.

• Nov. 2 — USDA emails grocery stores, forbidding discounts for SNAP recipients during the shutdown, claiming that “offering discounts or services exclusively to SNAP customers is a SNAP violation.”

• Nov. 3 — The White House announces it will restart SNAP at roughly half the normal amount—barely enough for survival, with no cushion for new applicants or emergencies. Courts set a deadline: release full benefits by Monday or partial by Wednesday.

• Nov. 4 — Trump, defying court orders, posts on Truth Social: “SNAP benefits…will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up the government, which they can easily do, and not before!”

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The White House insists it is “fully complying” and will issue partial payments—but gives no timeline.

42 million Americans still have empty accounts, waiting for funds they rely on to eat. Cities, states, and nonprofits press the courts to force full payments; a new hearing is slated for Nov. 6. Senate Republicans block a Democratic effort to restore full SNAP funding during the shutdown.
 

What does this mean for PA?

• Two million Pennsylvanians depend on SNAP to afford groceries.

• The OBBBA adds work-requirement checks at both application and renewal for SNAP and Medicaid. That means people could lose food or healthcare not because their eligibility changed, but simply because they missed a form or got caught in new reporting rules. It’s a policy choice that would push people off basic assistance through red tape.

  • It is estimated that this change will impact 1 in 5 SNAP recipients

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This isn’t a logistical problem—it’s a choice. The wealthiest nation on Earth can feed its people. If there’s money for tax cuts for billionaires, there’s money to feed hungry children. We can choose a better future. Instead of gutting healthcare and food programs, we could make the billionaires pay their fair share and invest in the programs that keep families safe, healthy, and strong.