What do you think is going to happen when tens of millions of impoverished Americans suddenly stop getting their food stamp money from the government? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a lot of them will be extremely angry. Unfortunately, if the current government shutdown stretches into the month of November, we really will be facing a nightmare scenario. Vast numbers of extraordinarily frustrated people will be demanding their money, and if they don’t get it I have a feeling that we could see rioting and violence.
I haven’t written much about the government shutdown because I was hoping that it would be resolved quickly.
Sadly, that has not happened.
Neither the Democrats or the Republicans are budging, and House Speaker Mike Johnson is warning that we are potentially facing “one of the longest shutdowns in American history”…
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday the country is “barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history.”
As the funding crisis hits the two-week mark, lawmakers still don’t appear any closer to a compromise. The longest shutdown happened during President Trump’s first term and was largely related to disputes over a southern border wall. It lasted for 35 days.
The pain that is caused by this shutdown will only increase the longer that it persists.
For example, Axios is reporting that there won’t be enough money to pay food stamp benefits if the shutdown continues past the end of this month…
The Trump administration is warning states that there will be “insufficient funds” to pay full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits if the government shutdown extends past October, Axios has learned.
So for now, people are still getting their food stamp money.
But a letter has already gone out that clearly warns state agencies that “there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits”…
- “As stated in our lapse of appropriation correspondence dated October 1, 2025, SNAP has funding available for benefits and operations through the month of October,” Ronald Ward, the acting associate administrator of SNAP, said in a letter to state agencies viewed by Axios.
- “However, if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.”
Considering how tense things already are in our nation, what will happen if 42 million poor people suddenly no longer have enough money for food?
I hope that we don’t find out.
If the government did try to find money to pay food stamp benefits in November, that could actually violate federal law…
- “Considering the operational issues and constraints that exist in automated systems, and in the interest of preserving maximum flexibility, we are forced to direct States to hold their November issuance files and delay transmission to State EBT vendors,” the letter says.
- A person familiar with the matter told Axios that, if the cards were loaded up, it could violate the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from spending money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress.
So I think that we are facing a very hard deadline.
And that is really bad news for tens of millions of Americans that are deeply dependent on government assistance. One of those individuals is a young mother in Minnesota named Barbie Anderson…
Barbie Anderson is trying to conserve the milk her three young children drink in case she doesn’t get her WIC benefits on October 15 as scheduled.
Though Anderson and her husband both work, they have depended on the federal food assistance program to stretch out their grocery budget since their older son was born nine years ago. The money is especially important because the prices are very high at the closest supermarket to their rural northern Minnesota home, with a gallon of milk costing more than $5.
If the money dries up, what is she supposed to tell her children?
What would you tell your children?
For a moment, let’s assume that there is a miracle and our politicians in Washington are able to come to an agreement to end the shutdown.
Even if that is the case, millions of Americans will still lose their food stamp benefits in the months ahead due to major changes to the program that were made by the “Big, Beautiful Bill”. In fact, hundreds of thousands of people will lose their food stamp benefits in the state of New York alone…
In July, President Donald Trump signed his “Big, Beautiful Bill” into law, enacting over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (snap, also known as food stamps). Drastic changes to snap were expected to roll out starting next year, including expanded work requirements projected to cause hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to lose eligibility.
On October 3, the federal agency that oversees snap announced it would hasten that timeline by terminating waivers that have allowed dozens of states, including New York, to largely suspend work requirements. Those requirements limit recipients to three months of snap benefits over a three-year period, unless they continually certify they have worked, volunteered, or studied in school at least 80 hours per month. New York’s waiver was set to expire at the end of February, allowing officials to delay the implementation of work rules until March; it is now set to be cancelled in the first few days of November.
So one way or another, large numbers of Americans are about to lose their food stamp benefits.
Many of those impoverished individuals will turn to our nation’s food banks, and right now those food banks are bracing for the worst…
Across the country, food banks are stocking up on provisions and community service organizations are telling at-risk clients to warn their lenders of the potential for missed payments, leaders of the groups told The Washington Post. Small-business owners are keeping a close eye on their foot traffic. Federal workers are preparing their families for some financial belt-tightening.
Unfortunately, food banks all over the country have already been dealing with record high demand.
One food bank executive in Philadelphia told the Washington Post that he has “never seen our warehouse as empty as it has been in the last three months”…
In Philadelphia, serving the hungry has gotten more difficult for one of the region’s largest food banks, said George Matysik, the executive director of Share Food Program.
Before the shutdown, demand for Share’s services had already gone up by 120 percent, Matysik said, as the nonprofit saw $8.5 million worth of federal resources vanish under the Trump administration’s cuts to federal spending.
“I have never seen our warehouse as empty as it has been in the last three months,” Matysik said. “And on top of all this, we’re now layering a shutdown.”
I don’t think that I could overstate the gravity of the crisis that we are facing.
Homelessness in the U.S. is at the highest level ever, demand at food banks is at the highest level ever, and hunger is exploding all around us.
And now food stamp benefits are about to be cut off for 42 million Americans.
If all of this sounds eerily similar to what I have been warning about, that is because it really is eerily similar to what I have been warning about.
I wish that this wasn’t true, but our society simply would not be able to handle an extended government shutdown.
When people get hungry, they get angry.
And we do not want to see millions of very hungry people take to the streets.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
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