Corporate greed vs people’s need for food

It was bad enough that President Donald Trump’s big, bad budget bill would slash $230 billion over 10 years from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), popularly called food stamps. But arguing that funds were “not legally available” to cover benefits past the end of October, Trump ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) not to release $5.5 billion agency reserve funds to cover continuing SNAP benefits after Nov. 1.

Trump’s order contradicted the USDA’s long-standing shutdown lapse policy that said “Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations should continue” in the event of a shutdown. Trump revised the policy to reserve funds for disasters, not to cover regular benefits. This unprecedented move marks the first time in the mandatory program’s 61-year history that SNAP benefits were stopped.

Trump’s budget bill overwhelmingly benefits millionaires and billionaires by extending his 2017 multitrillion-dollar tax cuts, while slashing $1.2 trillion in funds for Medicaid and food stamps. The budget increased annual funding for the Pentagon to over $1 trillion, while tens of thousands of people in military families will not receive food program benefits they rely on.

An estimated 730,000 federal employees are currently working without pay. Another 670,000 federal workers were temporarily laid off, also without pay. This has drastically increased demands on food pantries, many of which experienced significant cuts in federal grant funds in the spring. At the same time, food prices keep rising due to Trump’s tariff fiasco and his other failing economic policies.

Cutting SNAP is a crime! It is especially a Trumpian crime! 

In the U.S., 1 in 8 people — some 42 million — depend on SNAP benefits averaging $187 per month per recipient, for a monthly total of $8 billion. Disproportionately 70% of recipients are children, older adults and/or people with disabilities. Some 44% are people of color. A majority of the adult recipients work full-time, at low-wage jobs, with 1 in 10 workers employed by grocery stores, negatively impacted by SNAP benefits elimination.

Rely on courts or take to the streets?

Responding to lawsuits filed by a coalition of attorneys general and governors of 25 U.S. states, on Oct. 31 a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to tap into $5.5 billion in USDA contingency funds to continue to pay SNAP benefits. A federal judge in Massachusetts also ordered the administration to provide a plan on how it will continue to fund the program by Nov. 3. But these court rulings fail to resolve the problem.

On Nov. 3, Trump replied to the courts that the USDA would restore half the benefits for the month, but not saying when this would happen.  And as he has with so many other legal challenges to his policies, Trump will likely turn to his hand-picked U.S. Supreme Court justices to overturn the lower court rulings. Even if the lower federal courts’ rulings are upheld, the USDA says it will take over 10 days to get SNAP benefits flowing again.   

Some state governors are releasing millions of dollars in funds to cover the gap, but even if reserve USDA funds are released, this will fall short of covering recipients’ benefits for the entire month of November, especially at a time when  grassroots efforts to provide food are proving insufficient.

With the delays, and knowing benefits won’t last the entire month means parents won’t just skip meals for themselves. They’ll face the impossible decision no parent should have to make between feeding their family or falling behind on utility bills, medical care or risking evictions if they forgo paying rent.

Food crisis – an indictment of capitalism

The Trump administration has no problem finding billions of dollars for Israel to wage genocide and a campaign of intentional starvation against Palestinians in Gaza. It found ample funds to send an armada of ships to threaten war against Venezuela. Trump also increased funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities, which included $30 billion to hire more officers and $45 billion to expand prison camps for migrant workers and their children.

Historically, when economic crises threatened the foundation of the capitalist economy, the federal government found the funds to keep profits flowing. This happened during the bank failures in 2008, when Congress used trillions of dollars to bail out finance capital.

Workers, especially those facing food emergencies, can’t rely on capitalist courts to resolve the crisis which will only get worse as Trump’s economic policies play out. We need to take it to the streets to force the Department of Agriculture to provide benefits to meet people’s needs or face the prospect of justified rebellions by hungry masses.

It’s time that workers and oppressed communities demand an emergency economic bailout.