Trump administration posts notice that no federal food aid will go out
Nov. 1
[October 27, 2025]
By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website
saying federal food aid will not go out Nov. 1, raising the stakes for
families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on.
The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not
tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP,
flowing into November. That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy
groceries.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this
time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching
an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”
The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record.
While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the
shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would
expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and
some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in
just a few days.
The administration blames Democrats, who say they will not agree to
reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending
expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say
Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.
Democratic lawmakers have written to Agriculture Secretary Brooke
Rollins requesting to use contingency funds to cover the bulk of next
month's benefits.
But a USDA memo that surfaced Friday says “contingency funds are not
legally available to cover regular benefits.” The document says the
money is reserved for such things such as helping people in disaster
areas.
It cited a storm named Melissa, which has strengthened into a major
hurricane, as an example of why it’s important to have the money
available to mobilize quickly in the event of a disaster.
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Mara Sleeter, marketing and communications project manager,
stands near boxes of juice while being interviewed in the San
Francisco-Marin Food Bank warehouse in San Francisco, July 2, 2025.
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
The prospect of families not receiving food aid has deeply concerned
states run by both parties.
Some states have pledged to keep SNAP benefits flowing even if the
federal program halts payments, but there are questions about whether
U.S. government directives may allow that to happen. The USDA memo also
says states would not be reimbursed for temporarily picking up the cost.
Other states are telling SNAP recipients to be ready for the benefits to
stop. Arkansas and Oklahoma, for example, are advising recipients to
identify food pantries and other groups that help with food.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., accused Republicans and Trump of not
agreeing to negotiate.
“The reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably
come up with something pretty quickly,” Murphy said Sunday on CNN’s
“State of the Union." “We could open up the government on Tuesday or
Wednesday, and there wouldn’t be any crisis in the food stamp program.”
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