The Hope Center is located at 313 3rd Street NE in Devils Lake, ND, and serves the people of Ramsey County in need. (Photo by Louise Oleson, DLJ)
As of this printing, with the government shutdown continuing with no end in sight, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been paused as of Saturday, Nov. 1, which provided food assistance to approximately 60,000 residents in North Dakota. With the holidays drawing closer, local and state organizations move to support food assistance programs to provide for those in need.
The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1, due to a failure in Congress to pass a funding bill, primarily over disputes regarding Medicaid cuts and health care subsidies. As a result, hundreds of thousands of workers have been placed on furlough, and various government services have been temporarily halted, which now includes SNAP.
Meanwhile, in a press release issued from the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler has stated that the current SNAP pause will not affect free and reduced-price meals at schools across North Dakota. The Department of Public Instruction administers three other food programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They are the Emergency Food Assistance Program (offered through local food pantries and soup kitchens), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (which can be accessed by low-income households if a member is at least age 60), and the Food Distribution Program on Native American Reservations (providing USDA foods to income-eligible households on reservations and Native American households in designated areas near reservations as an alternative to SNAP; households may not participate in both programs during the same month).
Melissa Anderson, DPI assistant director of child nutrition and food distribution, said the programs can be indirectly affected by the SNAP money stoppage as it will put more pressure on their food supplies. She added that the first two programs also do not have funds to cover food shipping costs.
On Oct. 21, the Food Industry Association (FMI), based in Arlington, Va. urged Congress to reopen the government to ensure continued funding for SNAP, which is vital to helping struggling families put food on their tables. FMI Chief Public Policy Officer Jennifer Hatcher offered the following statement, “Now is the time for Congress to end the government shutdown to ensure that our most vulnerable Americans continue to have access to the food they need to feed their families through SNAP. USDA has indicated that current funding may be insufficient to provide full benefits for November unless a continuing resolution is enacted very soon. We urge Congress to move forward now on a path that reopens the government and ensures families relying on SNAP can access their November benefits without interruption or delay.”
In Washington, D.C., senators from both parties have attempted to pass bills that would extend SNAP funding during the shutdown. According to a Oct. 24 press release from U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), he filed a bill called the Keep SNAP Funded Act earlier that week so that the food assistance program would continue to be funded despite the shutdown. He secured support for the bill from fellow senators James Lankford (R-Okla.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
The following week on Oct. 29, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) issued a statement that he was leading the Senate Democratic Caucus in introducing the Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act of 2025.
However, according to the North Dakota Monitor, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has rejected considering bills that fund single programs during the shutdown. He has instead pushed for Democrats to approve a House-passed GOP measure to temporarily reopen the government. “We’re not going to pick winners and losers,” he said after objecting to Luján’s bill.”It’s time to fund everybody who’s experiencing the pain from this shutdown.”
The blame game
Many Republicans are blaming Democrats for the shutdown and the subsequent pause of SNAP benefits for those in need. In Hawley’s press release, Lankford said, “It’s exceptionally disappointing to see Democrats choosing politics over paychecks and the most vulnerable.”
“[SNAP recipients] shouldn’t have to worry about where their next meal will come from because the Democrats are holding government funding hostage to appease their far-left base,” added Blackburn.
Responding to a request for comment, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said, “We need to re-open all of government to ensure our military members are paid, and benefits like SNAP and WIC continue. The SNAP contingency fund won’t cover the benefits needed for even this month. We are hopeful Senate Democrats will join with us soon in passing a clean, short-term (continuing resolution), which will provide certainty for the millions of Americans who rely on programs like SNAP, and allow us to get back to regular order and pass our full appropriations bills.”
“Major policy debates don’t get settled during a shutdown, and Democrats know this because they passed the same short-term funding extension 13 times during the Biden administration,” Armstrong said. “Senate Democrats need to stop holding the government hostage and pass a clean CR so Congress can get back to work and end this uncertainty for Americans who are just worried about putting food on the table for their children and families.”
The criticism against Democrats appears to have extended to government departments, including the USDA, which could be considered a violation of the Hatch Act, a federal law that restricts political activities of federal employees to ensure a nonpartisan government. In a banner featured on their website, the following statement was issued, which also targeted undocumented immigrants and transgender citizens, “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued Nov. 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.”
There is no evidence to support the statement’s assertions about undocumented immigrants being eligible for health care benefits or subsidies. Also, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank that studies gender identity and sexual orientation law and public policy, 1.4 million adults identify as transgender in the United States; about 0.5% of adults 18-24 identify as transgender, and 0.3% of adults 65 and older identify as transgender; approximately 724,000 youth ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender, about 3.3% of that age group.
Also, the USDA removed its own contingency plan from its website, which verifies that in case of a funding lapse, USDA would use its roughly $6 billion in contingency funds to cover SNAP benefits during a government shutdown.
“Let me be clear: the Trump administration has the authority and the funds to keep SNAP running. No child, veteran, grandparent, or hardworking American should go hungry because of partisan politics,” said Luján. “Congressional Republicans passed the largest cut to SNAP in history, and now the Trump administration is withholding billions in available funding to inflict maximum pain on the American people.
The North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party (D-NPL) released a statement in response to Armstrong later on the same day of Oct. 30, pointing out that as funding for nutrition assistance lapsed for the first time in history on Nov 1, open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act begins that same day; SNAP’s contingency reserve is available, but the Trump administration refuses to use it.
“The federal government is taking away food and health care from the poor to fund tax breaks to billionaires. It is proper and charitable that the Governor directed this funding to support food assistance programs. But the partisan dig at the end of his announcement is misdirected,” State Senator Tim Mathern, member of the Senate Appropriations Committee (D-11) said, “U.S. Senate Democrats are asking for Congressional Republicans to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits so North Dakotans’ health care premiums don’t skyrocket next year, and to cancel the Medicaid cuts that will kick at least 18,000 North Dakotans off their health care coverage. Our Republican Insurance Commissioner has also asked the delegation to extend the ACA tax credits. Forcing Americans to choose between prioritizing hunger or health care is cruel, and it’s a false dilemma. Our members of Congress need to get back to work and negotiate with the Democrats.”
North Dakota D-NPL Executive Director Cheryl Biller added, “Gov. Armstrong is getting credit for stepping up to use ND tax dollars to shore up food pantries. I can acknowledge that this is a good thing, but this means North Dakotans are using state dollars to pay for the services we have already paid the federal government to fund. Trump and his Republican majority have the power to keep millions of American families from starving, but they refuse to use SNAP’s contingency reserve. Democrats are trying to prevent a massive health care crisis for thousands of North Dakotans. Julie Fedorchak needs to get back to work, and she, Hoeven, and Cramer need to get to the negotiating table. It’s called governing, and they won’t do it.”
Much of this could change at a moment’s notice should political cooperation in Congress return to normal. However, it should be noted that should the Trump Administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act pass in its current form, severe cuts would be introduced to SNAP benefits eventually.
