At a glance
SNAP is a federally funded program that provides low-income individuals and families with monthly stipends to spend on groceries. The federal food assistance program is set to run out of funding in November, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which issued a notice on its website that “the well has run dry” due to the shutdown.
Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled Oct. 31 that the Trump Administration must use federal contingency funds, which are stockpiled for emergency expenses, to fund SNAP in November. The judges ordered the administration to determine if it would fully or partially fund the program and asked for a progress update by Nov. 3, with the Massachusetts judge calling the SNAP suspension “unlawful.”
The USDA said in a recent memo that contingency funds are “not available to support [this year’s] regular benefits,” backtracking on an agency plan released ahead of the shutdown that said the money would be used to ensure states could continue distributing SNAP benefits with the government closed.
As of press time, the next steps surrounding SNAP benefits were unclear.
Zooming in
Over 3.5 million Texans receive SNAP benefits each month, according to Feeding Texas, the statewide network of food banks. Feeding Texas CEO Celia Cole told Community Impact that SNAP payments are issued on a rolling basis throughout each month, meaning that each day benefits are delayed, about 126,000 Texans would be impacted.
“People are at risk of going hungry if the government doesn't reopen and SNAP benefits are delayed. ... These are already vulnerable Texans,” Cole said in an Oct. 27 interview. “These are sort of our neighbors with the greatest needs, and for many of them, they won't be able to make it a week or two, or a month, without food aid.”
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission said it would issue SNAP benefits “after it receives new federal guidance, when the shutdown ends, or both.” Program updates will be posted on the Your Texas Benefits portal and the HHSC website, the agency said.
When the federal shutdown ends, SNAP enrollees are expected to receive retroactive payments for missed benefits, Cole said.
“When the government reopens, they can get back benefits—but in the meantime, that doesn't help you feed your family,” she told Community Impact. “So we're talking about a loss of potentially over $600 million in food benefits if the shutdown lasts the entire month [of November].”
Other federal health assistance programs, including Medicaid; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC; and the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, are not affected by the government shutdown, per the HHSC website.
U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, a Waco Republican who also represents Travis and Williamson counties in Community Impact’s coverage areas, said Texans interested in enrolling in federal assistance programs for the first time may have to wait until the shutdown ends.
“It's very clear, in my mind, that if you were just now wishing to be on Social Security, if you were wishing to be on any government program, ... it's not going to happen,” Sessions said in an Oct. 29 interview.
The local impact
Cole said Texas food banks are expanding their operations to meet increased demand as thousands of federal workers go without paychecks during the shutdown. Texas is home to over 117,000 armed forces and nearly 334,000 federal employees, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We are seeing people show up in our lines we've never seen before, who are federal employees or contractors and family members, who are seeing their paychecks delayed,” she said. “So food banks are really under a lot of strain right now. ... Too many Americans are one paycheck away from an empty fridge, and that's what we're seeing with a lot of these federal workers.”
Food banks throughout the state are holding special food distributions in areas with high concentrations of federal workers, such as neighborhoods near airports and military bases, Cole said.
Texans interested in supporting food banks and families in need can find more information here or contact their local food bank.
In an Oct. 30 letter, 57 Texas House Democrats asked Gov. Greg Abbott to “declare a state of emergency” and use emergency funding or tap into the state’s roughly $26 billion Economic Stabilization Fund, also known as the Rainy Day Fund.
Abbott has previously issued emergency funds in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, per governor’s office records and previous Community Impact reporting. He also moved $874 million between state agencies to fund border security and school safety initiatives in 2022, according to a news release.
“There’s a simple and immediate solution to this problem that could be achieved tomorrow,” Abbott said in a statement shared by his office. “Senate Democrats should immediately end their government shutdown by approving legislation that already passed the U.S. House that will fully fund the government and ensure Texans don’t go hungry. ... Texas agencies are coordinating with community partners to connect families to existing assistance until the federal government gets back to work.”
More details
Other federal services, such as federal grants and reimbursements for local infrastructure projects, have been delayed by the shutdown. Community Impact reported that the city of Tomball paused work on $7 million in local drainage projects in mid-October, because officials cannot currently request reimbursement for grant-related expenses.
U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, a Farmers Branch Democrat who represents portions of Collin, Dallas and Denton counties, said “it’s not surprising” that local projects were impacted by the shutdown.
“There's 1.4 million federal employees that are not getting paid right now that obviously perform vital services for the government, [such as] how we function and how we interact, at the federal level, with our state and local partners,” Johnson told Community Impact on Oct. 30. “So obviously, when a government shuts down, it has very significant ripple effects and consequences throughout multiple sectors and multiple levels of government.”
U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud, a Victoria Republican who also represents Bastrop County residents, said the widespread effects of the shutdown make clear "the urgency of us getting things moving.” He said Texans can contact his office with questions about federal services, although he emphasized that his staff is “limited in what we're able to do, just from an operational standpoint.”
“I hope people know that our office is not shut down,” Cloud said Oct. 30. “Our team is still continuing to work—in spite of not being paid, they're still doing the good work, and we're making sure that we do what we can to take care of [constituents].”
One more thing
Texas airports have largely been operating normally during the monthlong shutdown. Federal Aviation Administration records show that Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport have issued periodic ground delays due to staffing issues as air traffic controllers go without pay; however, prolonged issues have not been reported.
“We have not seen widespread disruptions to the passenger experience due to short staffing from federal partners and we are grateful for their work,” an ABIA spokesperson said in an Oct. 22 statement.
A DFW airport spokesperson encouraged travelers to contact airlines directly for information about flight changes. Spokespeople for George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston did not respond to requests for comment before press time.
