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UNCERTAINTY PERSISTS FOR SNAP RECIPIENTS, FEDERAL WORKERS AS SHUTDOWN
DRAGS ON  
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Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Camila DeChalus, Veronica Stracqualursi,
Auzinea Bacon
November 3, 2025
CNN
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_ Food banks grapple with a surge in demand. The prolonged lapse in
government funding continues to stress food banks, charities and
nonprofits set up to assist Americans in need, with federal workers
going without pay also turning to those sources. _

Workers sort tomatoes at a food pantry in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on
October 29, 2025. , Photo credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters // CNN Politics


 

Laterese Johnson has roughly a week and a half to two weeks of food
benefits left to feed herself and her grandchildren, a reality that
sunk in over the weekend when the government shutdown forced delays in
payments for food assistance.

“With the amount of SNAP benefits that I receive, it’s just enough
to feed one person, but I have to share that with my grandchildren,”
she told CNN’s Victor Blackwell on Saturday. “You know, it’s
already a sacrifice.”

Johnson is one of millions of Americans, including food stamp
recipients and federal workers, who are facing more uncertainty as the
government shutdown enters its fifth week, with congressional
Republicans and Democrats REMAINING AT ODDS
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over a solution.

While the Trump administration on Monday said it will provide partial
food stamp benefits for November by tapping into the program’s
contingency fund, recipients will not see payments immediately. In
court papers, the administration said it decided against pulling from
other sources of money to provide full SNAP benefits for the month.

The decision came after two judges ruled last week that the Trump
administration must tap into emergency funds for the roughly 42
million recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

The Department of Agriculture’s contingency fund doesn’t have
enough money to cover the total cost of the payments, which 3 million
recipients should have received November 1. Remaining SNAP enrollees
getting their allotments on a staggered basis during the month.

Meanwhile, GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested there could be
progress toward ending the shutdown after Election Day this week,
claiming that Democrats believe ending the impasse could harm voter
turnout in key races in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City. His
comments came days after President Donald Trump began RAMPING UP
PRESSURE
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on the GOP to unilaterally end the government shutdown by eliminating
the Senate filibuster, a move Republican leaders HAVE OPPOSED
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Rachel Kent, a SNAP recipient, told CNN on Saturday that food should
not be a political argument. “Congress can debate budgets all day,
but you don’t debate whether children get to go to bed hungry,”
she said.

The prolonged lapse in government funding continues to STRESS FOOD
BANKS
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charities and nonprofits set up to assist Americans in need, with
federal workers going without pay also turning to those sources for
aid.

Nina Savransky, a former disaster response worker at the US Agency for
International Development who volunteered at a food bank in the
Washington, DC, area over the weekend, told CNN she was shocked to see
the level of food insecurity brought on by the shutdown, particularly
among federal workers.

“I used to work in the disaster response bureau, and this is the
disaster response now,” she told CNN. “It’s shocking to see this
happen in the United States. This was support that we gave out to
other countries that were unstable, and to feel that instability
internally is … surprising. It’s difficult.”

FOOD BANKS GRAPPLE WITH A SURGE IN DEMAND

As the congressional stalemate persists, food banks across the county
say the demand for their services is only rising and they will not be
able to fill the gap made by delays to SNAP payments.

“The potential is absolutely devastating, cataclysmic, in fact, for
the whole nation, not only people experiencing hunger, but especially
them,” Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America, told
CNN’s Jessica Dean on Saturday. “For every one meal that the
charitable food system can provide, SNAP has been providing nine.
That’s why I’m saying ‘cataclysmic.’”

Cara Durr, CEO of Food Bank of Alaska, said her group’s partner
organization was seeing a lot of “concern and anxiety” over SNAP
disruptions over the past few weeks, and that many of the communities
they serve were already rattled by Typhoon Halong, WHICH TORE THROUGH
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remote, coastal communities in the state last month.

“We’re already seeing an increase. We expect that will
continue,” she said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of federal workers are reeling from
the effects of a prolonged shutdown as it drags into its second month.
At a food bank just outside Washington, DC, over the weekend, some
became emotional as they described to CNN how the UNCERTAINTY OF THEIR
PAY
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and employment status has taken a toll on their finances and mental
health.

Colby, a State Department employee of 21 years who declined to give
his last name, said he never imagined he’d be in line for food.
“It’s different. We’ve been volunteering here for a while — we
live a few blocks away. And now we’re on the receiving end. I’m
just thankful it’s here.”

Janis, a federal worker who declined to give her last name, became
emotional describing how the shutdown has upended things for her
family.

“It’s a big impact because now we have to choose either to feed
ourselves or pay the bills,” said Janis, who did not want to
disclose the agency she worked for.

“We have young children, and we have to keep it together for them.
It feels as if the government doesn’t care,” she said. “The
holidays are coming — people are going to be hungry. We are the land
of opportunity, and it doesn’t look like it.”

GROCERS BRACE FOR A HIT

The delays in food benefits are likely to affect not only recipients
and the nonprofits that serve them, but could also lead to declining
sales for grocers like Daweit Gebru, who co-owns Elmira Market with
his brother in Washington, DC. He estimates that 60% to 65% of their
business comes from customers using SNAP benefits.

The market saw what was “possibly the worst time of business” last
weekend, he said. Customers were more reluctant to spend money because
of the shutdown, he said, and he and his brother were afraid to stock
the market in case they didn’t sell anything. They forfeited part of
their paychecks for the month to cover their staffs’ salaries and
are now resorting to credit cards to stay afloat.

At Zuppardo’s Family Market in Metairie, Louisiana, customer traffic
remained steady over the weekend, according to owner Joseph Zuppardo.
Louisiana’s Department of Health said it was moving forward with a
state-funded program for SNAP households that include people who are
elderly, disabled or children.

The family-owned supermarket just outside of New Orleans has worked
“extremely close under normal markups” to keep food affordable,
according to Zuppardo. Long-term disruptions to SNAP could lead to as
much as a 15% drop in sales, he said, adding, “we’re trying to do
our part into lowering our costs.”

At Joseph’s Market in Waterville, Maine, manager Sydney McKinnis
said she is creating a November special priced under $150, potentially
including basics like burgers, pork chops and bacon.

McKinnis wants to keep it affordable “even if I have to go close to
costs … just to be able to fill people’s freezers.”

_This story has been updated with the Trump administration’s plans
to provide partial food benefits for November._

_[CNN’s Tami Luhby and Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.]_ 

* SNAP
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* food bank
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* food pantries
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* food benefits
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* Donald Trump
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* Trump 2.0
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* Big Bad Bill
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* federal workers
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* Shutdown
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* Government Shutdown
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* Congress
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* GOP
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* MAGA
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*
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