Convicted felon/sexual abuser/President Trump is seeking to starve 42 million Americans by withholding food benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides monthly financial assistance to low-income Americans to help them buy food. Trump is working to withhold food benefits from 42 million Americans to pressure Democrats into voting to re-open government without having to negotiate with Democrats to address the skyrocketing cost of health insurance. Democrats are refusing to re-open government unless Republicans restore the cuts they made to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies in Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” The bill will make health insurance premiums jump astronomically for millions of Americans in 2026. About 22 million people get federal support under the ACA to make their health insurance coverage more affordable. Under Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” though, these insurance subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025, at which time millions of people will see their health insurance premiums more than double. Older Americans who are close to, but haven’t yet attained the age of 65 will be particularly hard-hit, with their health insurance premiums rising on average between $750 and $1,000/month.
On November 6, 2025, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled that Trump is legally obligated to fully fund SNAP benefits during the shutdown. The judge found Trump has been withholding funding from the program solely for “political reasons.” As proof of this, Judge McConnell cited Trump’s November 4, 2025 Truth Social post in which he announced he was going to withhold SNAP benefits from Americans until Democrats capitulated to his demands to end the government shutdown, now the longest shutdown in U.S. history:
On the same day Judge McConnell ruled Trump must fully fund SNAP, a second federal judge, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Boston, made a similar ruling. Judge Talwani called Trump’s suspension of food benefits “unlawful” and said the Trump administration arrived at the incorrect conclusion that contingency funds set aside to fund SNAP benefits could not be used to ensure continuation of SNAP payments during the shutdown. Judge Talwani wrote,
“This court has now clarified that Defendants are required to use those Contingency Funds as necessary for the SNAP program.”
Trump wasted no time appealing Judge McConnell’s order to fully fund SNAP to the U.S. Supreme Court, in hopes that he would still be able to starve the millions of Americans who rely on SNAP benefits for survival.
Trump could easily find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits during the shutdown.
Congress created a contingency fund of approximately $5-$6 billion to fund SNAP benefits during a government shutdown, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a $13 billion unallocated slush fund filled with tariff revenue. Trump has moved around money before to fund his priorities, for example when he found funds to pay active duty military troops’ salaries during the shutdown.
Trump is using vulnerable Americans as political pawns.
Despite having plenty of money to fund SNAP, the only plan Republicans have to address food insecurity and the skyrocketing cost of health insurance is to continue to refuse to negotiate with Democrats to arrive at a reasonable compromise to end the shutdown, compound Americans’ misery by refusing to fund an extension of health insurance tax credits, and by withhold SNAP benefits from people who are likely to starve without it.
Democrats recognize that people being priced out of their health insurance has become a crisis even for those who haven’t been getting ACA subsidies. Independent business owners, contractors, gig workers and others who buy health insurance on the private market are seeing their monthly premiums leap by hundreds of dollars in 2026, but despite this being a looming problem over the last 15 years, Republicans have failed to come up with any kind of plan or proposal to address skyrocketing health insurance premiums.
Instead, Trump and Republicans all seemingly agree that starving 42 million Americans is the best course of action to keep from having to find some way to dealt with the health insurance crisis.
Meanwhile, Trump has managed to find plenty of money to build a gilded $300 million ballroom, remodel the Lincoln bathroom with marble and gold fixtures, spend $40 billion to bail Argentina out of its currency crisis and throw a lavish Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar A Lago for his billionaire friends on Friday, October 31 — the same night SNAP benefits ran out for tens of millions of hungry Americans.
