SNAP Shutdown: Hunger as Hostage

[Animal Rights Zone]

SNAP Shutdown: Hunger as Hostage

As the 2025 government shutdown stretches into its sixth week, US President Donald Trump has refused to release $4 billion in court-ordered Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds, leaving 42 million low-income Americans in limbo. Despite federal judges mandating full distribution of November benefits, Trump’s administration appealed the ruling and successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to pause enforcement, demonstrating a calculated act of cruelty.

What Is SNAP?

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, is the largest federal anti-hunger initiative in the United States. It provides monthly food benefits via EBT cards to help low-income individuals and families afford groceries. Eligible items include:

- Fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables 

- Legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas) 

- Grains (rice, oats, quinoa, pasta) 

- Bread and cereals 

- Tofu and soy products 

- Plant-based milks (almond, oat, soy) 

- Nuts, seeds, and cooking staples (oil, flour, spices) 

- Non-alcoholic beverages and snacks

- Animal products

 

SNAP is especially vital for children, older adults, and people with disabilities, many of whom cannot work. Though it represents only 1.6% of the federal budget, SNAP lifted 30% of recipient households above the poverty line in 2022.

Human Rights Violations in Plain Sight

Under international law, access to food is a protected human right:

- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25: 

  “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being… including food.”

- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 11: 

Governments must ensure “freedom from hunger.”

By withholding SNAP funds, despite judicial orders and available contingency reserves, Trump’s administration is not merely failing to meet these obligations. It is weaponising hunger as political leverage.

 

What Trump Is Funding Instead

While SNAP recipients wait, Trump’s government continues to fund:

- Air traffic operations (with reduced staffing and mass flight cancellations) 

- Military and border enforcement programs (untouched by the shutdown) 

- Executive travel and political events (including strategy meetings in Palm Beach) 

- Legal appeals to block SNAP funding (including filings to the Supreme Court) 

- MAGA propaganda on federal websites (featuring partisan videos blaming Democrats) 

- Airport video loops (showing Homeland Security officials glamorously deflecting blame) 

- Shutdown betting pools among White House staff (trivializing the crisis)

 

This selective spending reveals priorities: suppress dissent, maintain elite mobility, and punish the vulnerable.

 

FAA Flight Cuts: Shutdown Fallout

As of November 8, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reduced air traffic by 10% across 40 major airports due to staffing shortages. Over 11,000 air traffic controllers are working without pay, and fatigue is mounting. Airports affected include:

- Newark (2–3 hour delays) 

- San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, Miami 

- Chicago O’Hare and Dallas Fort Worth

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admitted that “almost every controller can’t make it two paychecks.” This is now the longest shutdown in U.S. history, past 39 days.

 

Supreme Court: SNAP Blocked

On November 7, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued an emergency administrative stay, allowing Trump’s administration to withhold $4 billion in SNAP benefits. This reversed a lower court’s order requiring full November payments.

- Partial payments were made from a contingency fund 

- The administration refused to release the remaining $4 billion, citing “funding lapse” 

- The Supreme Court’s stay delays enforcement until the appeals court rules

 

This decision leaves millions, including 16 million children, facing food insecurity.

 

Forensic Framing: Hunger and Delay as Leverage

Trump’s administration is:

- Funding legal appeals to block food aid 

- Maintaining executive travel 

- Broadcasting partisan blame videos at airports 

- Leaving essential workers unpaid 

- Using hunger and travel chaos to pressure Democrats

 

In the words of one federal judge, this administration’s actions “make a mockery of the separation of powers.” But more urgently, they mock the dignity of millions who rely on food aid to survive.

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