Food Access Halted for SNAP Recipients

Employed single mothers who make less than $41,000 per year rely on about $400 a month in government assistance to feed their children. But as the federal government shutdown closes in on the one-month mark, hundreds of thousands of families in Harris County and the surrounding area won’t be able to get groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Anticipating a looming crisis, the Houston Food Bank put out a call over the weekend for donations and volunteers to help with distribution. H-E-B offered a $5 million gift to Texas food banks through the Feeding Texas network last week, offering an additional $1 million to Meals on Wheels, which provides food to homebound senior citizens and people with disabilities. 

But in Fort Bend, Harris, Montgomery and Waller counties, more than 900,000 people are struggling to determine how to pay rent, cover healthcare needs and feed their babies. The four-county area surrounding Houston accounts for about 22 percent of the state’s total SNAP cases. 

Officials with the Houston Food Bank were “extremely busy” Monday morning attempting to learn more about local impacts of the government shutdown and SNAP cancellations, so they asked that staff interviews be postponed until after a Tuesday press conference.  In a social media post, food bank representatives said the call volume was so high they were encouraging people to use an online map or smartphone app to find a distribution site where they could pick up groceries.

In addition to halting November SNAP benefits, the shutdown also has created a scenario in which thousands of “essential” federal employees are required to go to work even though they’re not being paid, meaning families that weren’t previously struggling with food insecurity may now be needing the services of a local food bank. 

Cuts to the SNAP program were in motion even before the government shut down on October 1. Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, said in May that the food bank network was “gravely concerned” about the debilitating cuts called for in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which passed in July. 

“Families across Texas are already struggling to find affordable food and healthcare, pay their rent, and put gas in the cars,” she said. “From seniors living on fixed incomes, to veterans unable to find work, to families with children juggling a tight budget, too many Texans are hurting.”

The USDA announced the temporary halt on SNAP benefits on its website in a message that sounds like it was influenced directly by the Trump White House. The note references the government shutdown that began earlier this month when U.S. Congress was unable to reach a funding agreement for federal agencies.

“Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as SNAP,” the statement reads. “Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 1. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”

That’s not how U.S. Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, sees it. 

“Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have supported SNAP since Congress created it nearly 50 years ago,” Fletcher wrote in a newsletter to constituents last week. “But this year, President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill includes a $186 billion cut to SNAP — the largest cut in history.”

“At a time when people are living paycheck to paycheck and food banks in Houston and across the country are experiencing record demand, we should be making it easier for families to make ends meet, not harder,” Fletcher added. 

The congresswoman and other Democrats sent a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, urging the agency to fund November SNAP benefits by releasing $5 billion in contingency reserves and using the USDA’s statutory authority to cover the remaining portion. 

“People should not be going hungry in this country, and certainly not because the government can’t get its act together,” Fletcher said. 

Democrats have said that the shutdown was caused by Republicans refusing to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits that were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those against the healthcare funding extension say the credits were never intended to be permanent and such a massive expenditure isn’t feasible while the federal budget is in a deficit. 

The longest government shutdown in history, also under a Trump administration, ran 35 days from December 2018 to December 2019; the current impasse is likely to surpass that. 

About 42 million Americans who use SNAP benefits will have to rely on food banks, churches and charities, at least for the month of November. According to the Associated Press, Texas ranks second in the country, behind California, for having the highest number of SNAP recipients. About 3.5 million Texans, including 1.7 million children, are enrolled in the program. 

Fletcher said that in Houston, more than half of the recipients are children under the age of 18 and another 11 percent are seniors over the age of 65. SNAP benefits also contribute $10.73 billion in annual economic growth to Texas and support more than 94,000 Texas jobs, the congresswoman said.

“This lapse in SNAP benefits will harm those in need and hard-working families trying to make ends meet,” she said. 

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