Federal food assistance for low-income Americans is on the verge of getting turned off as the government shutdown nears its second month.
An EBT sign is displayed on the window of a grocery store on Oct. 30, 2025, in New York City. Federal food assistance for low-income Americans is on the verge of getting turned off as the government shutdown nears its second month.
“I don't think I've been more concerned about anything in my career before,” said Chris Bernard, the president and CEO ofBernard said around 685,000 Oklahomans will face new challenges putting food on the table.That’s about 12% of the population. SNAP provides nearly $8 billion a month in food assistance to families with children , elderly people living alone and more. While the costs of the program have ballooned over the last 20 years, it fills essential needs for a lot of Americans.GROWING PROGRAMAmerican Enterprise Institute , a free-market think tank, said SNAP has transformed from a $20 billion a year safety net program two decades ago to She said SNAP benefits vary depending on household size and income, but most SNAP households with children will lose $300 or more a month as benefits are suspended under the shutdown. Rachidi said greater participation and higher benefits have fueled the cost increases in the program. She said in the early 2000s, about 6% of the population was receiving SNAP. That peaked around the Great Recession to 15%, and now it's back down to about 12%. The program has grown from both increased eligibility but also by higher rates of participation among eligible households, she said. And Rachidi said the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2021 under former President Joe Biden administratively increased benefit levels, boosting payments by around 25% above typical cost-of-living increases.including the program growth, expanded eligibility, what she called questionable benefit increases, and “loopholes” that she said allow undocumented immigrant households to receive benefits. “The growth of the program, I think, is a major concern, as well as some of these kind of mechanisms within the program that disincentivize work and make it harder for households to become self-reliant,” Rachidi said.And the abrupt suspension of the benefits could hit especially hard. “If people have the opportunity to prepare for a benefit loss, I think it's very different,” Rachidi said. “Because they can try to find other income sources through employment, for example, through other things. But I think because it's such an abrupt loss that, yes, I think it'll be very consequential for households.”Both Rachidi and Bernard said nonprofit food banks will feel more strain if and when SNAP benefits are cut off, but they also said households will be forced into making some difficult decisions.He also wants to see the USDA release billions in contingency funds to cover at least partial SNAP costs in November.Ensuring Americans have food on their table should be a bipartisan priority, he said. People receive groceries from Curley's House Food Bank days before the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits may expire due to the Federal government shutdown on October 30, 2025, in Miami. In Oklahoma, SNAP benefits are released on the first, fifth and 10th of the month. It won’t take long until people are feeling the impact.“I was talking to a partner today who said normally they have about 16 voicemails a day that they come into the office to – they’re a food pantry, right? – it is averaging over 300 already,” he said. And Bernard said he’s heard from families just over the income threshold to qualify for SNAP who rely on food banks but have been turned away, as the food banks prepare for the crush of requests from SNAP recipients.BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT “It's all impossible decisions,” Bernard said. “Forgo one need for the other. Get yourself in more debt by not paying your rent, at risk of eviction or at risk of having your lights turned off.”UPDATE - San Antonio International Airport has released a statement on the incident involving a Southwest 737 arriving from Oklahoma City condicting an emergencSCHERTZ, Texas - A search for a missing 19-year-old has ended in tragedy Thursday afternoon when the Schertz Police Department located a body in a field near ScSAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio airport is launching its updated Disabled Veteran & Military Plates Parking Program, starting Nov. 1.The program offers the followSAN ANTONIO — Tensions remain high in the trial of three former San Antonio Police Department officers charged in the 2023 shooting death of Melissa Perez. The
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