Chantille Manuel, a resident of Florida, has undergone a remarkable personal transformation over the past five years. She has celebrated a significant milestone in her recovery from addiction, successfully lost over 140 pounds (64 kilograms), and launched her own businesses, including a beauty salon. Despite these impressive achievements, Ms. Manuel continues to face severe financial challenges, struggling to afford basic necessities such as food. To make ends meet, she relies heavily on food assistance programs provided by local churches and the U.S. government.
“I don’t want to have to have help from anybody, I want to be self-sufficient,” Ms. Manuel says. Her sentiment echoes the feelings of millions of Americans who depend on food aid programs but wish to stand on their own feet. Unfortunately, her story is now compounded by an uncertain future for food assistance amid an ongoing government shutdown.
More than 40 million Americans, including Ms. Manuel, rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy groceries. SNAP is a vital federal program that provides reloadable debit cards to low-income individuals and families to help them purchase food. Approximately one in eight Americans depend on this program for their daily nutritional needs. However, due to the current government shutdown caused by the failure of Congress to agree on a new funding deal, SNAP officials have warned that they will not have enough funds to continue full benefit payments beyond November 1.
Faced with this looming deadline, Ms. Manuel recently spent the last of her October SNAP benefits on essential items like coffee, creamer, and canned tuna. She made these purchases without the luxury of waiting to see whether a government solution would emerge before the benefits run out. “It’s either going to be there or it’s not,” she says. “So I might as well get what I need right now.”
The shutdown’s impact on SNAP funding is tied to political disagreements and budgetary decisions in Washington. Earlier in October, the Trump administration declined to tap into a contingency fund designed to maintain SNAP benefits during funding gaps. The administration justified this by saying the contingency fund should be preserved for true emergencies such as natural disasters. However, even if those contingency funds were used, they would only cover about 60% of one month’s SNAP payments, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a think tank focused on policies aiding low-income families.
The political debate has largely centered on who should bear responsibility for the funding shortfall. Democrats argue that the Trump administration has already secured funding for other critical services during the shutdown, such as military pay, and should similarly ensure SNAP benefits continue. Republicans, on the other hand, insist that SNAP funding will be restored once Democrats agree to reopen the government, effectively placing blame on the opposition party for the deadlock that has dragged on for weeks.
In response to the crisis, Senate Democrats introduced legislation aimed at continuing SNAP funding during the shutdown. However, it remains uncertain whether the bill will garner sufficient support to pass. Meanwhile, the fundamental safety net that SNAP provides hangs precariously in the balance, according to Hanna Garth, a Princeton University professor who studies food insecurity. She underscores the program’s critical role in preventing deep poverty, especially for working families who earn low wages. “It can also be the tipping point that moves some families above the poverty line,” she explains.
Should SNAP benefits cease, millions of Americans will need to seek alternative sources to feed themselves and their families. Food banks and charitable organizations are already witnessing increased demand. At the All Faiths Food Bank in Sarasota, Florida, volunteers are busy packaging food donations on a sunny Tuesday morning. Last year, the food bank distributed over 22 million pounds of food, serving more than 80,000 people in the area. Its CEO, Nelle Miller, notes that the need for food assistance continues to rise, particularly in the wake of the government shutdown.
“The difference is that people will not immediately recover,” Ms. Miller says, referring to the impact of the shutdown compared to natural disasters like hurricanes that have struck the region in recent years. Approximately 20,000 people in her area currently receive SNAP benefits, and around 6,000 of them also utilize the food bank’s services. Ms. Miller worries about what will happen to the remaining 14,000 SNAP recipients once their benefits run out.
While the food bank is prepared to redistribute its supplies to help more people if necessary, this would mean each person receives less food. “Receiving food is