Food, Farm & Labor Groups Call for Immediate Action to Protect SNAP, Nutrition Programs During the Shutdown
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Forty-two million people across the United States are wondering how they will feed themselves and their families this month. The federal government’s refusal to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) means that 16 million children, 8 million elders, and 4 million people with disabilities are among those facing reduced or delayed food assistance.
While the USDA will begin drawing from its contingency funds, this partial release only covers a fraction of the need and leaves millions of people at risk. Families are being forced to stretch already thin budgets, skip meals, and rely on food pantries that are themselves overwhelmed.
The HEAL (Health, Environment, Agriculture, and Labor) Food Alliance and the Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA) are calling for the immediate, full funding of SNAP and all nutrition programs that families depend on.
Despite this growing crisis, this billionaire-backed administration continues to refuse to negotiate an agreement that would reopen the government and provide full funding for essential programs like SNAP, which keep millions from going hungry.
“When grocery prices are at an all time high and wages are at an all time low, refusing to use all available funds to keep people fed is not about balancing budgets, it’s about cruelty,” said Carolina Gonzalez, Policy Analyst at the HEAL Food Alliance. “One in eight people rely on SNAP to put food on the table. This number is even higher in Black and Latinx communities, and nearly 40% of recipients are white, making them the largest group served by the program.”
“The administration’s attacks on SNAP are consistent with the violent attacks they’ve made on working people and communities of color in this country through ICE raids, militarization and policies that deepen poverty. Ultimately, hunger cuts across race and place and it’s working people who pay the price” Gonzalez added.
Food and Farm Workers on the Frontlines of Hunger
A pause on SNAP also deepens a crisis that defines our food system: the people who feed the nation cannot afford to feed themselves. According to a 2025 report by the Food Chain Workers Alliance, there are nearly 29 million workers across the food chain, from farms to factories, trucks and restaurants. Seventy percent are in low-wage, frontline jobs. These workers earn a median of just $28,000 a year and are 68 percent more likely to live in poverty than workers in other industries. Nearly one in five food workers experience food insecurity and are 60 percent more likely to rely on SNAP to put food on the table.
Women and people of color, who make up the majority of the food system workforce, face the greatest wage gaps and the highest rates of food insecurity.
“These cuts do not just deny working families the ability to eat; they reinforce a system built on exploitation, where those who sustain the food chain are among the hungriest in it. The SNAP freeze weakens the entire food system by taking food off the tables of the very people who keep it running,” said Jose Lopez, Interim Executive Director at the Food Chain Workers Alliance.
WIC Recipients Face Immediate Harm
The shutdown also threatens the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides food, nutrition education, and medical support to 7 million parents and children nationwide. 40 percent of WIC participants are Hispanic or Latinx and 20 percent are Black, the same communities overrepresented in low wage food and farm jobs. Ending or delaying these benefits will force parents who are expecting or have newborns to make impossible choices between food, medicine, and rent.
“Access to food and healthcare are human rights, not privileges. The attacks on SNAP and WIC reflect misplaced priorities,” said Gonzalez. “While this administration continues to give huge tax breaks to billionaires and powerful corporations, and builds frivolous $300 million dollar ballrooms, millions of families, children, and working people are being pushed closer to their breaking point.”
Toward a Food System Based on Care and Abundance
This partial release is not enough. While the administration has tapped into USDA contingency funds, those funds will cover only part of SNAP needs and leave millions of families without food. The administration can and should draw on other available funding authorities to fully support SNAP for the duration of the shutdown, but it has refused to do so. Until federal funding is guaranteed in full, families will continue to face uncertainty and hunger.
When we unite across race and place we can build food systems rooted in community and care where everyone has what they need to thrive. SNAP and WIC are not handouts; they are vital programs that support working families and food workers, strengthen local economies, and secure healthier futures for our children and elders. Each SNAP dollar spent generates about $1.80 in economic activity in local communities, which helps small businesses, farmers, and markets stay afloat while ensuring families can eat.
HEAL and FCWA call on the current administration to use all available authorities immediately and ensure uninterrupted benefits for everyone who depends on these programs. Our collective wellbeing depends on it.
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