For 43 days, the government stood still.
From Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, essential government employees worked without pay, airport staffing shortages caused significant flight delays and 12.3 percent of Americans risked losing access to basic groceries.
That 12.3 percent, which includes approximately 40 million Americans as well as 3 million Texans, regularly received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. With SNAP cuts, many Americans were suddenly left with less government assistance.
During 43 days of the government shutdown, Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement over Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. Democrats sought an extension, but, after 14 failed attempts to pass a resolution, the shutdown finally ended when Democrats signed an agreement lacking the ACA extension, with Republicans promising to provide the subsidies by mid-December.
For Director of Community Service Jorge Correa, the shutdown reflected a broader issue — a failure of the two parties to reach any basic consensus, resulting in negative spillover effects for many families.
“Politicians, they blame each other,” Correa said. “If you listen to one side of things, they’re gonna say it’s the other party’s fault. You listen to the other side, now it’s the other guys’ fault. But the problem with that is that in the middle are the people who actually need the help, and in the end, (those) people suffer the consequences.”
Historically, the U.S. government has spent a large part of the budget on SNAP. In 2024, the U.S. government spent nearly $100 billion on SNAP assistance. But on the 20th day of the shutdown, SNAP funding dropped to critically low levels, sparking what is now referred to as the Day 20 Crisis.
Without that federal support, up to 42 million Americans lost a significant portion of their expected benefits.
“The SNAP program is what they used to call food stamps,” North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) Director of Communications Jeff Smith said. “It’s for people who meet a certain poverty level. If you qualify for benefits based on your income and the number of people that are in your household, you’ll get an amount on a debit card that you can use to buy groceries at a grocery store.”
The program also gives families increased flexibility, letting them choose the food that works best for their household at local grocery stores.
While the NTFB usually experiences a significant uptick in demand during the winter, SNAP funding cuts caused an unprecedented surge. Normally, SNAP prevents families from having to rely on local nonprofits for consistent support.
“(SNAP) typically will keep people out of other assistance programs,” Smith said. “We typically do not see as many of those people needing constant help through our partners.”
As families who previously relied on those food stamps had to turn elsewhere for resources, nonprofits were left to fill the gap. In total, the organization provided more than 11.6 million meals this November — an 11 percent increase in demand from last year — stepping in by both supplying families with food from their partnered pantries and also by organizing drives specifically to support them.
“During the end of October and the month of November we had about 20 special distributions that were solely focused on people who were impacted by the government shutdown,” Smith said. “During that time we provided food to 40,000 people who were impacted by the SNAP benefits being halted because of the government shutdown.”
Like the NTFB, many other nonprofit organizations saw reduced federal funding while similarly facing massive spikes in demand. Correa noted that the community service board, along with partners such as the Salvation Army and Brother Bill’s have also received a surge of requests for increased support.
And although the government has resumed normal activity for around a month, the shutdown’s lasting effects will continue to be prominent for some time. Families coping with lost income or resources will need to recover, and food banks must restock depleted inventories. In addition, federal employees are working to regain financial stability.
“It’s going to take a while to get everything back in line,” Correa said. “I think it’s easier to cut than it is to get some momentum again to restart and support the family. It will definitely take some time and the problem with that is some things cannot just wait.”
But despite all of the adverse effects, Correa sees a silver lining in how the community responded.
“We are in a community where people respond and they take care of each other,” Correa said. “If nothing else, that’s a positive thing, that the American people in general know how to take care of each other.”
