The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is coming to a pause starting in November. According to Sharon Parrott on PBS News, on Sept. 30, 2025, the Trump administration posted a shutdown plan for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which runs the SNAP program, due to the government shutdown. 

SNAP is a food assistance program for low-income families. More than 40 million Americans use SNAP benefits as claimed by BBC. USDA officials said that SNAP received its current name as a result of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. Though, SNAP could even trace back to 1939 when the first food stamp program began. 

On Oct. 24, the USDA announced to the states that it would not pay SNAP benefits starting in November. Arizona, with multiple other states, joined in on a lawsuit against the Trump administration suspending the food assistance program. Said lawsuit mentions how the USDA could use a federal contingency fund of around $5 billion to pay for SNAP benefits, plus money from another fund. Attorney General Kris Mayes also claimed that the agency had the funds to pay for benefits to nearly 900,000 Arizonans and tens of millions of Americans, according to ABC15. “I will not stand by as Arizona families go hungry,” she said. “We have had shutdowns in the past, and we have always used this contingency fund to address those shutdown deficiencies, so there is absolutely no reason for the president to not allow those funds to be used.” 

Starting on Nov. 1, as long as the government is on shutdown, SNAP benefits sadly won’t be promised to those who need it. Though possible if planned correctly, it most likely won’t happen.