America's Talking - Millions of Americans brace for food stamp cutoff Nov. 1

Episode Date: November 1, 2025

(The Center Square) – Millions of Americans reliant on food stamps will not receive benefits for the month of November, due to the ongoing government shutdown. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not issue Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits until the government reopens, with the agency saying on its website that “the well has run dry.” Federal agencies like the USDA have remained unfunded since Oct. 1, when the government shuttered after Senate Democrats blocked Republicans’ Continuing Resolution, a seven-week funding stopgap. Since then, all but three Democratic senators have continuously filibustered the House-passed CR, demanding that Republicans promise to renew a costly pandemic-era expansion of Obamacare Premium Tax Credits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greetings and welcome to America's Talking, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, executive editor at the Center Square Newswire Service. It's now been a full month since the federal government partially shut down on October 1st. We are recording this on Friday, October 31st. Happy Halloween, everyone. But things could get downright scary for the tens of millions of Americans who receive food stamp benefits known as SNAP. Joining me to discuss this is the Center Square congressional reporter, Torres Boudreau. Terez, another week's past, and there still is no progress on reopening the government. As of Saturday, November 1st, food security and other funding dries up. Tell us more. Yes, so as you said, it might be getting pretty scary for some people because it's been

over a month now since the government shut down midnight, September 30th, so October 1st. And the government has said, federal government has said that we don't have the money to, to send to the states so that they can offer the food stamps of supplemental nutrition assistance program or SNAP to give those to our citizens. And right now, there's roughly 42 million people on SNAP. I believe 16 million of those are children. And while there are some states that have said that they have some contingency plans in place, it's certainly not all of them. and I don't even think the majority of them. I know that Virginia's governor, Glenn Yonkin,

he said that he's going to be declaring a state of emergency so that the state can use emergency funds to fund SNAP. And I know in New Hampshire, they're partnering with a big local food bank, I think. So there are different ways that states are trying to, you know, get around this, at least temporarily. But there are millions of people who just aren't going to receive benefits, who just aren't going to be able to use their card to get food. So it's, and this hasn't happened any time recently in modern history that SNAP benefits have run out,

that people just haven't been able to access them. You know, people who are eligible have not been able to access them. So it's, it's one of those things to where you got to wonder why, why Congress, just isn't acting because this is something that's this is such a huge concrete consequence on so many Americans. And if you want to look at it, you know, from the view of a lawmaker, so many of these people's constituents who, you know, maybe voted them into office and they're letting that happen. It's not a good look. And it's not a good picture for anyone right now. Just as a way of background, the U.S. House, Republicans in the U.S. House,

passed a continuing resolution a little over a month ago to keep government spending essentially on autopilot at the same spending levels that have been going on for the last year plus. Republicans, of course, have majorities in the House and the Senate, but in the Senate, they need a supermajority of 60 votes. Only three Democrats have crossed over with Republicans to pass that. House passed continuing resolution, but the other Democrats are holding out so they don't have the 60 votes. But now, because the House's continuing resolution was scheduled to end in mid-November, there's talk that the House might have to come back and repass a new continuing resolution. Tell us

about that. Yeah, it's exactly, as you said, this is something that Republicans really wanted to avoid. In fact, the House has been in recess this entire past month as a way to show. show, you know, for Mike Johnson to show, hey, you know, either take it or leave it. This is the continuing resolution that we passed, Democrats. So, you know, we're not going to make any changes. It's just a clean continuing resolution. Funds the government from October 1st to November 21st. So take it or leave it. But that hasn't happened. I don't think anybody really expected it to drag out this long. I mean, the vice president himself said, I believe it was on day three of the shutdown. He's like, I don't think this is going to last very long.

There's going to be enough rank and file Democrats to join Republicans and vote to reopen the government who realize, hey, there are some bad consequences that come from this, particularly as the government shutdown drags out. But that unfortunately hasn't happened. We've only seen three Democrats vote to reopen the government with Republicans. Senator John Federman from Pennsylvania. And then I think I'm forgetting the other two. He's always been somebody, though, who at least in this Congress, who tends to, he doesn't let his party, I think, hold him back from voting the way he wants to, the way that he believes he should.

So he's had a lot of posts on X recently telling his fellow Democrats, that's, hey, we need to reopen the government. This is really bad. But again, there's not really negotiations have just died, honestly. There's just so little going on at both sides are just entrenched in their demands and their and their views. You know, Republicans, especially at this point, don't want to, you know, suddenly fold and say, okay, you know, to Democrats, we'll grant your health care proposal because that wouldn't look good. And Democrats at this point have held out for so long that, you know, unless they're able to spin it in a way that it looks like they're gaining something, they're not going to want to fold either. Now, you know, of course,

they're, they want the expanded version of the Obamacare, Obamacare premium tax credits to be extended permanently. Those Obamacare premium tax credits during the COVID-19 pandemic, President Biden and Democrats basically expanded the number of people who can be eligible for them and then the actual amount of the credit itself. So it's a subsidy that's sent to insurance companies that then at least are supposed to lower premiums for eligible people. But Republicans are saying, look, we can promise you a vote on those subsidies. We can promise you that we'll talk about them. you know, we can even promise that we will try to, you know, advance them essentially, but with significant reforms because we're not going to let, you know, for instance,

people who are making 400% above the federal poverty level permanently eligible for these subsidies that are supposed to be for low-income people. We're not going to do that. And so, again, but they say, look, but we're not going to guarantee you that we will pass a bill. that permanently, that makes these subsidies permanent into law the way that they are. And that's the only thing that Democrats seem willing to accept right now. And again, neither side is backing down. And we'll be, you know, in the second month of this government shutdown, starting this weekend.

And in the next week, senators are going home. No vote is scheduled through the weekend. So, Terrez, keep at it next week. We'll see what happens. Thank you for joining us. Readers can keep up with this story and more at thecentersquare.com.