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WASHINGTON – Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – commonly known as food stamps – will lapse on Nov. 1, the first time in the program's 60-year history as the consequences of the government shutdown spread further across the country.
That's why lawmakers have started proposing more standalone bills that, while not capable of fully reopening the government, would address the crisis' biggest pain points, from an impending gap in funding for food stamps to widespread concern over military pay.
Rank-and-file lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, seem to increasingly acknowledge that at some point soon, something's got to give. And by Wednesday afternoon, more bipartisan talks seemed to be happening, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
Still, lawmakers haven't managed to pass anything to ease the shutdown pressure on Americans. Several measures from both sides of the aisle, including bills that would pay federal workers and save safety-net programs from running out of money even as the government stays shuttered, have failed and will continue to fail, at least until party leaders change their minds.
"That is just the wrong way to do this," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said Tuesday. "The way to approach this is just to reopen government."
Vice President JD Vance met that same day with Senate Republicans to talk in part about the shutdown, though lawmakers said the discussion veered primarily into frustrations about President Donald Trump's plans to import more beef from Argentina.
The president, meanwhile, is on a multi-country trip in Asia and isn't scheduled to return until Thursday.
Grocers warn lapse in SNAP, WIC will have ‘serious consequences’
The National Grocers Association, which represents the independent supermarket industry, on Wednesday called on Congress to end the government shutdown and fund the SNAP and WIC programs.
NGA President & CEO Greg Ferrara said in a statement that a lapse in funding to those food assistance programs could lead to “serious consequences” like reduced employee hours, perishable food losses and declining sales. On top of that, when benefits are restored, Ferrara warned that “the resulting surge in demand could strain supply chains nationwide.”
“As local grocers at the heart of the vibrant communities they serve, we believe that no American should ever go hungry,” Ferrara said, adding that lawmakers need to immediately open the government “so that our communities are supported and Americans can access the food they need to feed themselves and their families.”
– Rebecca Morin
'Significant uptick' in bipartisan negotiations
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Wednesday there's been a "significant uptick in bipartisan conversations" related to ending the shutdown among rank-and-file lawmakers.
"That's the good news," she said.
Her comments came after Senate Majority Leader John Thune also told reporters that such discussions could be a "precursor of things to come."
Democratic SNAP funding bill blocked by GOP senator
A bill to keep funds flowing to food stamps and nutritional programs for low-income women, infants, and children was blocked on the Senate floor Wednesday.
SNAP funds will lapse for the first time on Nov. 1 if the government shutdown doesn’t end or lawmakers don’t allocate funds to the program. Money for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, could run out soon, even with a recent emergency cash infusion earlier this month.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján asked the Senate to pass his bill that would fund SNAP and WIC through the government shutdown, which is on day 29.
“Pass this bill now,” Luján said on the Senate floor. “Fund SNAP, fund WIC, before this hunger crisis hits our communities.”
Majority Leader John Thune forcefully objected to it on the Senate floor, calling for lawmakers to instead pass the House-passed temporary funding bill.
“The senator from New Mexico is absolutely right. SNAP recipients shouldn’t go without food. People should be getting paid in this country, and we’ve tried to do that 13 times. And you voted no 13 times,” Thune said.
“This isn’t a political game,” he added. “These are real people’s lives we are talking about, and you have all just figured out 29 days in that, oh, there may be some consequences?"
– Rebecca Morin
House leaders call each other ‘irredeemable’ over shutdown
House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries exchanged barbs and called each other “irredeemable” over the shutdown impasse.
Johnson, R-Louisiana, told reporters that Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, were each beholden to the most radical wing of their party and couldn’t negotiate a resolution to the shutdown.
“I think Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are irredeemable at this point,” Johnson said. “I’ve given up on the leadership. We’re trying to appeal to a handful of moderates or centrists who care more about the American people and will put the people’s interests over their own and do the right thing in the Senate.”
Jeffries, D-New York, said he looked past Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, to resolve the deadlock. Jeffries argued Trump would ultimately decide how to resolve the dispute over health care spending that Democrats insisted on increasing.
“The extremists on the other side of the aisle are irredeemable,” Jeffries said.
House staffers won't get paid Friday, memo says
Wages for staffers in the House of Representatives will be delayed until the government reopens, according to an email sent to employees Wednesday.
Their October paychecks were originally scheduled to be disbursed Friday.
Lawmakers in the House haven't taken a vote in weeks. They remain on an indefinite 48-hour return notice.
Shutdown could cost economy $7B to $14B: CBO
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown will cost the U.S. economy from $7 billion to $14 billion – depending whether the shutdown lasts another month – that will never be recovered.
CBO said in a Wednesday letter that the country’s economic activity will be lower because of the shutdown based on fewer services provided by hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, lower federal spending and reduced food assistance benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“The reduction in output stemming from the time furloughed employees did not work will not be recovered,” the CBO told House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas.
The range of estimates on economic losses was based on the shutdown ending Oct. 29 to Nov. 26.
Trump approval rating remains steady amid shutdown woes, poll finds
Trump's approval rating took a slight dip in a new national poll over the last week, but still remains in a months-long plateau stretching back to mid-May.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday, the president had a 40% approval rating, compared to last week's 42%. Though the three-day poll measures a 2-point drop since the previous survey, the difference is within the margin of error, maintaining the president's steady ratings.
The survey also found 50% of Americans were frustrated with the shutdown and another 20% were angry. Some 29% said they either didn't care or were glad about the shutdown, according to Reuters.
Regarding a main sticking point of the shutdown, 73% of Americans polled say they want the insurance subsidies to continue as Democrats maintain, despite arguments that they will increase the federal budget deficit.
– Kathryn Palmer
Will I still receive my Social Security check?
Yes, Social Security payments, including Supplemental Security Income and benefits for retirement, disability and survivors, continue during a government shutdown.
Because Social Security benefit programs are considered mandatory spending by law, they are not impacted by the lapse in funding appropriations. Payments are still distributed on a regular schedule during the shutdown.
Social Security offices are still open during the shutdown, but only some services are available.
End of SNAP food assistance Nov. 1 becomes flashpoint in Senate
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged colleagues to approve legislation to extend SNAP food assistance despite the government shutdown, but Republicans called it a cynical attempt to avoid blame for starving low-income families.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has become a flashpoint in the shutdown because 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits that will run out Nov. 1.
Schumer of New York said the government found ways to fund SNAP during all previous shutdowns, including the longest one in 2018 and 2019 during Trump’s first term. He called the argument Trump can’t provide the benefits during the funding lapse “nasty, vicious, self-serving bull.”
“Republicans are on a crusade to kill SNAP,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said the legislation wouldn’t cover military troops or federal law enforcement officers or air traffic controllers who are working without paychecks. The bill also wouldn’t provide rental and housing assistance or small business loans or Head Start, he said.
“Democrats don’t want the bad press of hungry Americans,” Thune said. “This bill is a cynical attempt to buy political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown even longer.”
When was the longest government shutdown?
The current shutdown is now the second longest in history at 29 days.
The longest shutdown ever lasted 35 days, from December 2018 to January 2019, during Trump’s first term.
That means that if the shutdown continues to Election Day, on Nov. 4, the record will tie. If the current impasse lasts longer, it will take the place as the longest shutdown in history.
Speaker says voting on more temporary funding ‘futile’
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters it would be futile for his chamber to vote again on a short-term funding bill to reopen the government because most Senate Democrats would still oppose it.
The House voted Sept. 19 to extend government funding through Nov. 21. As that date approaches with no resolution to the impasse, lawmakers have begun discussing temporarily funding into early 2026, to allow time to approve legislation for full-year funding.
But Johnson, R-Louisiana, told reporters on Wednesday that bringing the House back and holding another vote would be met with the same Democratic opposition. All but three Senate Democrats voted against reopening the government until health care funding is increased.
“Wouldn’t that be a futile exercise?” Johnson asked. “It would meet the exact same fate. What would be the point of that?”
Shutdown reveals different priorities between GOP, Democrats: Rep. Mast
The chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Brian Mast, said the shutdown revealed a difference in values between Republicans and Democrats reflected in Trump negotiating trade agreements while most Democrats refuse to reopen the government.
Mast, R-Florida, said Trump is negotiating in Asia to maintain access to rare earth minerals, which are crucial for electronics. China has restricted exports of the minerals as part of a trade war over U.S. tariffs.
“The president is abroad trying to protect our homeland,” Mast told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s a difference of values.”
Meanwhile, Mast said he spoke with embassy personnel in an unspecified country who are worried about having enough funding to evacuate during the shutdown. Workers are worried about gas for vehicles and diesel for generators, he said.
“Those are the real-world consequences,” Mast said.
How many Americans use SNAP, or food stamps?
More than 42 million people across more than 22 million households relied on SNAP benefits every month during fiscal year 2025, according to the USDA.
In total, that means around 12% of the more than 342 million people in the United States utilize the benefits.
According to the USDA's fiscal year 2023 report on the SNAP program, its latest annual data, the largest age bracket of those who relied on the benefits were adults ages 18 to 59.
However, children accounted for about 39% of the people who received the benefits, according to the data.
In fiscal year 2025, the average monthly benefit per person in the SNAP program was $190.59, per USDA. For households, the average monthly benefit was $356.41 in total.
– Melina Khan
USDA secretary says contingency funds aren't enough to cover SNAP
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said her department lacks the $9.2 billion to pay for SNAP benefits in November after a coalition of 25 Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration over plans to end the food-stamp program beginning Nov. 1 amid the government shutdown.
“We don’t even have close to that in contingency funding,” Rollins said in a Tuesday afternoon interview on CNN. "We've got to get this government open."
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue the USDA is obligated to use funds from its $6 billion in contingency funds to cover SNAP in November, but Rollins has said the emergency money can’t be used for this purpose. The position seems to contradict previous USDA guidance that said the money was available "in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year."
Rollins downplayed the guidance, dated Sept. 30, as an “iterative document.” She also said the emergency fund isn’t large enough to cover the shortfall. During the shutdown, Rollins said the department has spent money to open Farm Service Agency offices and pay food and safety inspectors, while also maintaining the SNAP program in October.
“The SNAP program in November costs $9.2 billion,” Rollins said. “We don’t have the legal authority, as of today, to distribute anything less than that through the formulas, etcetera. We're obviously looking at all of this as we move forward."
Judge extends block on Trump's mass layoffs during shutdown
A federal judge on Tuesday further blocked Trump's administration from following through on plans to lay off thousands of federal employees amid a nearly month-long partial government shutdown.
During a hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston extended an earlier temporary ruling barring nearly 40 federal agencies from implementing layoffs pending the outcome of a legal challenge by unions that represent federal workers.
About 4,100 employees at eight agencies had been notified that they were being laid off before Illston's Oct. 16 ruling, the Trump administration said in court filings. White House Budget Director Russell Vought has said that more than 10,000 federal workers could lose their jobs because of the shutdown.
– Reuters
JD Vance says troops will continue to be paid during shutdown
Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday that military members will receive their next paychecks despite the ongoing government shutdown.
"Will the troops get paid on Friday? Yes," Vance said, according to reports. "We believe that we can continue to pay the troops on Friday."
However, the vice president did not provide additional details on what funds the government will use to pay military members. Troops, like millions of federal workers, see their paychecks on the line when the government shuts down.
– Marina Pitofsky
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Government shutdown latest; senators scramble as SNAP benefits set to expire for first time
Reporting by Zachary Schermele, Bart Jansen and Joey Garrison, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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