'Uncharted territory': Ongoing shutdown threatens food aid for 42 million people
In just over a week, nearly 42 million people in the U.S. who get federal food assistance are in danger of seeing their benefits disappear because of the ongoing federal shutdown.
About 1 in 8 U.S. residents get an average of $187 a month through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. One of those people is Shari Jablonowski. The 66-year-old widow, who lives outside Pittsburgh, is bracing to lose the $291 in food aid her disabled nephew gets each month. She raised her now-adult nephew and two nieces as her own, and even without this looming crisis, her budget is a tightrope.
"This month, I could not afford to pay … anything, gas or electric," she says. Instead she paid her monthly car payment, since she needs to drive to doctors' appointments, visit her mother, and one niece uses the car to get to work.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/24/nx-s1-5581354/federal-shutdown-snap-wic-food-aid-ebt-hungerOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
The big story here is that 42 million people need help to eat. That's a lot of people hungry in one of the richest countries in the history of the world.
“A country is only nine missed meals from revolution.” - Unknown
I guess I can wait a few more days.
It’s only threatening food, they have to run out of their own food, charity food, local state assistance, neighbors, etc.
Nine
daysmeals will NEVER happen.If you depend on food stamps, chances are high that you have next to no food stocked up.
Many who need food stamps also have neighbors and family that do not have a lot to help with.
To claim nine meals will never happen is outright moronic.
For many it is already happening at the end of the month.
No rioting is going to happen. It’s just going to be people stealing from grocery stores.
Which is almost prime conditions for starting a riot, especially if cops try to crackdown on it.
I get what you’re saying, but the riot won’t happen. It’s just going to be a bunch of people getting arrested. There may be a few people here and there that get pissed off and throw some shit… And eventually get shot… But as a group, the United States is never going to rise up against the government.
If anything violent happens, it’s going to be neighbors killing neighbors for their food.
I think this will be a successful campaign to crush the Democrats ensuring a red wave in the midterms.
9 meals, not days.
Most people tend to eat 3 meals a day.
Right,meals. Still will never happen. Don’t get excited. Zero things will come from this just like zero things came from “No Kings”
Those are threadbare and under stress from the shutdown already
United States citizens will die of hunger before they will get violent with the government
United States citizens are weak, wormy little cucks.
To be fair, so are the citizens where you live
I tend to agree. There's so much excess of cheap calories that missing nine meals would be impossible. Nutritional food would be harder to obtain though.
There's a man out there who wants a TRILLION dollar compensation.
Eat the rich!
What better way to foment unrest? Take away the food. Martial law is just a hop, skip and a jump away.