The Cruel American Food Aid Crisis

How the shutdown and the Big Beautiful Bill are putting vulnerable residents at risk of going hungry

Nov 04, 2025

You’ll find some shiny new restaurant reviews — including a few words on John McDonald’s Seahorse — in your inbox later this week. My original plan was to publish those short takes today, just below my news-y piece on SNAP. But as this explainer grew in length (and as I started to realize how massive the changes to food aid are), I decided to postpone my dining advice.

The Lo Times is free today. If you can, consider a cash donation to the New York Food Bank or one of the other charities listed at the bottom of this column.

Ryan!!!

What the heck is going on what SNAP?

This morning, I listened to a Florida resident tell CNN that she’s trying to figure out whether to buy food or put gas in her car.

“Thankfully, I don’t have to eat that much,” Chantille Manuel told the cable news network. “I guess it doesn’t matter if it tastes good. I just need it to be healthy,” she added.

The United States is one of the ten richest countries in the world. Some of our priciest restaurants are as packed as ever. And yet tens of millions of low-income residents are now facing the prospect of missed meals, extended lines at food pantries, or going into debt to perform one of the most basic biological functions: feeding yourself and your loved ones.

Federal funding for SNAP — formerly known as food stamps — lapsed on Saturday amid the government shutdown. It’s a reality that will make life even more difficult for the 42 million Americans to who depend on the program to buy food and beverages at local bodegas, supermarkets, and big-box stores like Costco.

That’s a huge number, 42 million. It’s about one in eight Americans.

The folks on SNAP are your friends, family members, and co-workers. Many of them keep their income status private for fear of being stigmatized. “I grew up on free cheese and powdered milk and waiting for your friends to leave the store so they won’t see me pay with stamps,” Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che wrote on Instagram this weekend.

Indeed, if you’re someone who eats out on a regular basis, you almost certainly know waiters, cashiers, or cooks who rely on government food aid to stay nourished. If SNAP is in jeopardy, the friendly faces that keep Americans fed are in jeopardy — along with so many other good people.

This isn’t some sort of theoretical white paper. This is happening.

“The well has run dry,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture wrote on its homepage last week, referring to the lapsed SNAP funding. That phrasing itself is a matter of contention.

A federal judge determined on Friday that there is indeed water left in that well, and that the government is legally obligated to help Americans access it.

Rhode Island District Court Judge John J. McConnell ruled that the Trump administration likely acted unlawfully by refusing to rely on a multi-billion dollar contingency fund to continue the benefits. He ordered the U.S. to resume payments (NBC).

But today, the Trump Administration told the court that it would only send out partial monthly benefits, without tapping any additional emergency funds to make up for the shortfall. It is unclear when the benefits will actually resume.

Politics seem to be playing a role in some of these decisions on aid. Here’s how Tony Romm of the New York Times puts it in this fine news analysis:

In what may become the longest federal stoppage in history, the president has frequently bent the rules of budget, primarily to reap political benefits or exact retribution. He has found new and untested ways to spare certain Americans, like the military, from the pain of the government closure, while claiming he has no power to help others, including low-income individuals who rely on benefits like SNAP.

Indeed, that assistance is all the more vital as U.S. residents grapple with an uncertain economic outlook — including a tight labor market, higher prices at the grocery store (especially in the beef aisle), rents that keep outpacing inflation, and price increases on consumer goods (like clothing and electronics) due to the Trump tariffs.

Americans are being squeezed harder than ever.

The U.S. government shutdown will eventually end, but since hunger is suddenly a subject of national attention, I decided to put together an explainer on SNAP — a program that isn’t nearly as generous or simple as it should be.

You can’t simply stroll into your local pizzeria and pick up a few pepperoni slices with an EBT card. So let’s take a look at the program, and let’s also figure out how the Big Beautiful Bill could kick lots of vulnerable folks off of SNAP — including young people, refugees, and asylum seekers.

Who is eligible for SNAP?

Folks who earn at or below 130 percent of the poverty line.

For single folks in most states — including New York— that works out to $1,696 per week, or $20,352 annually. For a family of three, the income limit is $34,656. Those numbers are all well below what someone would earn in a full-time minimum wage job in the five boroughs.

Translation: Folks who receive these benefits really, really need them.

Can SNAP be used at restaurants or for prepared foods?

For the most part, no.

SNAP is generally designed around folks buying groceries meant to be prepared at home. Hot items like rotisserie chickens or BEC sandwiches are typically ineligible, as are certain cold items meant to be eaten inside a deli or gas station.

Now I know what you’re thinking. What happens if you don’t have access to a stove or microwave, or if you’re not physically able to cook? That’s where the Restaurant Meals Program comes into play. In New York and other states, folks who are unsheltered, disabled, or over the age of 60 can qualify for the RMP, which lets them use SNAP benefits at select participating restaurants — including at pizzerias and fast food spots — at a 10 percent discount.

What is the average benefit?

The maximum monthly benefit for an individual with no children is $298. That works out to about $10 a day.

Yes, this benefit is just supposed to be “supplemental” — a few extra bucks to buy groceries or beverages. But it should go without saying that someone earning $1,700 per week in New York (before taxes) probably doesn’t have a whole lot of extra money to throw around in case there’s a shortfall.

Trying to put together three daily meals in one of the world’s most expensive cities for a grand total of $10 is a cruel Rubik’s cube to solve. And you have to solve that puzzle every day of the week. That sum wouldn’t even cover the cost of a single discounted chicken shawarma sandwich from a (nameless) SNAP restaurant participant.

And some folks actually receive even fewer funds; the average monthly benefit across the country is actually just $187.20 per participant, or roughly $6.24 every day.

How many folks depend on SNAP in New York?

Around three million people throughout New York use SNAP; that’s roughly 15 percent of the state’s population. And that percentage is much higher in two of the five boroughs. Just over 23 percent of Brooklyn residents rely on SNAP, or over 38 percent of Bronx residents, according to this interactive map by the Center for American Progress (based on 2022 data).

Why will there only be partial benefits in November?

The U.S. generally spends just under $100 billion a year on SNAP, or roughly $8 billion every month. But funding has lapsed amid the shutdown, and the White House says there’s only $4.65 billion available to pay out of the emergency fund, according to NPR.

To make up that big difference, Judge McConnell said that the USDA could access Section 32 funding, which is powered by customs receipts, according to Roll Call. But the Trump administration has so far refrained from tapping that fund, instead using it to pay for a separate program for low-income women and children, the New York Times reports.

When will SNAP benefits resume?

Unclear! State agencies will have to recode eligibility systems to account for the reduced benefits, according to NPR, citing a government source that said the changes could “take anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months.”

Is there a particular political group that benefits from SNAP?

Excellent question! President Trump seemed to suggest last week that the lapse in SNAP would largely hurt Democrats. Here’s that quote:

“…When you talk about SNAP, you’re talking about largely Democrats, but… I’m president. I want to help everybody. I want help Democrats and Republicans. But when you’re talking about SNAP, if you look, it’s largely Democrats hurting their own people.” (via Mediaite)

It’s difficult to determine the political leanings of individual SNAP recipients, but the Department of Agriculture’s own data suggest a more obvious reality: That people in both “red” and “blue” states depend on federal food assistance. Both Republican-leaning Louisiana and Oklahoma host some of the highest concentrations of SNAP beneficiaries, as do the Democrat-leaning Oregon and New Mexico.

Do a lot of folks in food service and retail receive SNAP benefits?

Indeed they do. A study last year by the progressive-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that about 17 percent of retail and warehouse workers receive SNAP benefits. That group includes grocery store cashiers and folks working at gas stations. And about 13 percent of hospitality workers receive SNAP, with most of them coming from restaurants (and elsewhere) as cooks, waiters, and fast food staffers.

Food service is the single largest industry employing SNAP users, making up 10 percent of all beneficiaries, according to that same study.

Aren’t there newly expanded work requirements?

Yep. They’re a product of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025.

As of this month, able bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD) must now work 20 hours per week (80 hours per month), or engage in skills training or job searches. Or they can volunteer. Beneficiaries must complete these requirements to continue receiving SNAP for more than three months in a three-year period.

This group of able bodied adults includes veterans, youths aging out of foster care, and homeless folks — individuals that used to be exempt. Previously, adults with children under the age of 18 were exempt; that age limit has been lowered to 14. People over 54 used to be exempt as well; that age has been raised to 65.

It doesn’t get easier out there, does it?

Will people lose their benefits under the new SNAP rules?

Quite possibly, especially as the Big Beautiful Bill cuts SNAP expenditures by $187 billion over the next decade. The new eligibility requirements leave up to three million youth vulnerable to losing SNAP, the Urban Institute found.

The office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul estimates that up to 300,000 state residents could lose some or all of their benefits under the new rules.

Who precisely will end up losing coverage? “Research shows that older and sicker populations are significantly more likely to lose coverage due to work requirements than younger, healthier counterparts,” said Dr. Chima D. Ndumele of Yale School of Public Health, in an interview published on that school’s website. He added that beneficiaries who are otherwise eligible could lose coverage due to the new reporting burdens.

Also: It will require quite a bit of public outreach to ensure that the unsheltered (and others) get the paperwork done to stay on SNAP.

What about immigrants? Will they be able to access SNAP?

Refugees or asylum seekers — folks who are often in deep need of food aid — are no longer eligible for SNAP benefits under the One Big Beautiful Bill. Certified trafficking victims and certain folks with Temporary Protected Status (from Venezuela, Honduras, and El Salvador) are also no longer eligible, according to Hunter College’s Food Policy Center.

Governor Hochul’s office said in a release that 41,000 noncitizens in New York are expected to lose benefits due to the new rules, totaling about $108 million in lost benefits (see this KFF piece for further details about these changes).

Doesn’t the U.S. usually put out a food insecurity report?

Yes, usually. But that has changed as well.

Here’s a particularly cutting lede from Jason DeParle of the New York Times, which explains it all: “Two months after pushing through Congress the largest food stamp cuts in the program’s history, the Trump administration has canceled the government’s annual report measuring household food insecurity.” (20 September 2025)

What are states doing to alleviate the current SNAP crisis?

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced $65 million in new state funds to support food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens. That aid is crucial because the Empire State normally administers $650 million in SNAP funds every month. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, in turn, announced that the Southwestern state will load $30 million worth of funds onto state EBT cards.

What can I do to help?

Contact your favorite food charity to arrange for cash donations or to inquire about possibilities for volunteering! Here are a few organizations you’ve likely heard of:

City Harvest: Dedicated to rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste.
God’s Love: The organization delivers “medically-tailored” meals to those living with severe and chronic illness.
Food Bank of New York: They do a lot of things, including distributing food to a network of 800 pantries, soup kitchens, and mobile pantries in all five boroughs.

Being a grocery buddy is also an option, right?

Right! You can ask your community if anyone needs help buying food — perhaps on Facebook or elsewhere on social media. And if anyone responds, you can buy groceries for them (or send a gift card).

Here’s NPR with a full story on this generous phenomenon.

Shout out to Eater NY’s Nadia Chaudhury for putting together this column on how Brooklyn restaurants are chipping in to help with the fight against hunger!

See you all quite soon.