The U.S. Capitol on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, just hours before a federal government shutdown. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is over and all we got was the near-cancellation of food assistance just in time for Thanksgiving and a looming explosion in health care costs.

None of the problems that led to the shutdown have been resolved. Instead, a handful of Democrats abandoned their fight to force Congress to address the health care crisis in exchange for rolling back some of the damage the Trump administration did during the shutdown itself. Federal workers are getting their jobs back — for now — and flight cancellations will end just in time for the holiday travel season. Otherwise, we’re pretty much back where we started. 

Democrats are fuming and Republicans are gloating over the end of this game of chicken, in which the party that showed it doesn’t care at all about the pain and suffering of its own constituents is the apparent winner. Stay tuned to see how long the glow of victory lasts as members of Congress go home to face the voters. 

During the fruitless shutdown battle, a couple of politicians from Wisconsin who are not facing election anytime soon showed real leadership. Their focus on serving the needs of real people, not political posturing, was a breath of fresh air, and a model of the kind of public service we badly need.

Gov. Tony Evers deserves a lot of credit for acting quickly to pay out food assistance funds to nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites last Friday as soon as a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to release the money, which it had been withholding for a week. Evers acted in the nick of time. The Trump administration appealed the decision and, on the strength of an emergency ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, demanded that Wisconsin and other states that had paid out the benefits overnight claw them back. Evers issued a terse response: “No.” 

Thanks to his leadership, hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites, including 270,000 kids, were spared from going hungry because of the Trump administration’s capricious cruelty. With the shutdown over, the battle over food assistance has ended and the USDA has said full nutrition benefits will begin flowing to states again within 24 hours of the shutdown’s end. But as Evers said when he seized the moment and released the funds, “It never should’ve come to this.” The feds had the money to prevent kids from going hungry all along. Trump made a deliberate decision to cut off aid, and then to demand that states pay only partial benefits, on the theory that doing so would punish Democrats for refusing to reopen the government on Trump’s terms. 

Evers deserves a lot of credit for his decisive action to protect Wisconsinites from harm.

Another Wisconsin politician who has been working overtime to stave off disaster for residents is U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. 

Baldwin has spent her entire career working to expand health care access, including writing the provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows children to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they reach the age of 26. She has a reputation for doggedly working across the aisle and, during the shutdown, she never gave up trying to get Senate Republicans to agree to extend ACA tax credits. 

This week, when eight Senate Democrats joined the Republicans on a resolution to reopen the government that didn’t include any language about the coming spike in health care costs, Baldwin forced a Senate vote on an amendment to extend the ACA credits for one more year. Many Senate Republicans had told her they knew the expiration of those credits would drive health care costs through the roof in their states.  

In her floor speech introducing her amendment, Baldwin said: 

“My Republican colleagues are refusing to act to stop health care premiums from doubling for over 20 million Americans. I just can’t stand by without a fight.”

Even as people across the country express shock and dismay, “Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have simply refused to address the biggest increase in American premiums they’ll likely ever experience,” Baldwin said.  

“I’m getting calls daily from Wisconsinites begging me to stay in this fight,” she added. She told her Senate colleagues about a couple from Door County who told her their premiums are going up by over $550 per month because of the failure to extend the ACA tax credits. “Everything is already too expensive. So where are they supposed to find 6,500 extra dollars in their budget?” she asked. 

Another couple from Butternut, Wisconsin, told her their premiums are going from $400 per month to more than $5,000 per month — “that’s $55,000 more a year,” she said. “As they wrote to me, ‘health care tax breaks are not just numbers on paper. They are a lifeline that allows us to sleep at night knowing that we won’t lose everything if one of us gets sick.’” 

Baldwin was back in the state Wednesday where, as Erik Gunn reports, she is holding a series of town hall meetings with people affected by rising health care costs. She is holding out hope that some of her Republican colleagues will come around on the issue. She refused to answer questions about whether she thinks Sen. Chuck Schumer should be ousted from his position as Minority Leader because of the end of the shutdown fight. 

Characteristically, she is keeping her head down and working to build bipartisan support — as she did, successfully, when she persuaded enough Republicans to join her to pass the Respect for Marriage Act protecting same-sex and interracial couples — instead of using it to score political points.

As we move past the shutdown power struggle and into the real fight over people’s lives, we need more of that kind of leadership. 

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The Saturday Morning Market, in St. Petersburg, Florida, on April 14, 2012. (Photo by Lance Cheung/USDA)

Following a late Friday emergency ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Trump administration has instructed states that authorized full November nutrition assistance benefits to return a portion, another unprecedented reversal for a program that helps 42 million people afford groceries.

A Saturday memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service said states should fund 65% of benefits for users of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, often called food stamps. 

Those that had authorized full payments in line with earlier administration guidance should “immediately undo” that action, according to the memo.

“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” the memo said. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025. Please advise the appropriate FNS Regional Office representative of steps taken to correct any actions taken that do not comply with this memorandum.”

President Donald Trump and top administration officials have said they cannot pay full SNAP benefits during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1 and instead, under court orders, are using a contingency fund to make partial payments.

Shutdown chaos surrounds SNAP

Saturday’s guidance from Patrick A. Penn, the department’s deputy under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, marked the latest turnaround in a chaotic few days for the agency, states that administer SNAP and the millions of Americans who depend on it to afford food.

Penn wrote that, in light of the Supreme Court’s order pausing lower court rulings that USDA must pay full November benefits, the administration was returning to its position that SNAP benefits should be funded at 65%. 

States — including Wisconsin and Kansas — that issued full benefits did so under a Friday memo, also signed by Penn, that said states should authorize full payments for SNAP, consistent with a Thursday ruling in federal court.

Kansas, Wisconsin, Oregon govs express dismay

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, in a late Friday statement expressed disappointment with the administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court and noted the state had authorized full payments earlier in the day for all eligible Kansans.

“These Kansans, most of them children, seniors or people with disabilities, were struggling to put food on their plates,” she said. “Why the President would petition the highest court to deny food to hungry children is beyond me. It does nothing to advance his political agenda. It does not hurt his perceived enemies. It only hurts our most vulnerable and our reputation around the globe.”

In a Sunday statement, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, flatly refused to try to claw back any authorized benefits. The state acted in compliance with a court order, he said.

“After we did so, the Trump Administration assured Wisconsin and other states that they were actively working to implement full SNAP benefits for November and would ‘complete the processes necessary to make funds available,’” he said. “They have failed to do so to date.”

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said her state will not comply.

“Oregon acted lawfully, given the federal court’s directive and the communications with the USDA, and my decision to ensure SNAP benefits went out quickly was in direct alignment with my food emergency declaration,” said Kotek, a Democrat. “I am disgusted that President Trump has the audacity to take taxpayers’ money away from them when they are in crisis. I have a question for the President: What would he prefer to spend the money on over groceries for people in need? This is ridiculous, immoral, and Oregon will fight this every step of the way.”

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement: “Let’s be clear about what this is —  the Trump administration is demanding that food assistance be taken away from the households that have already received it. They would rather go door to door, taking away people’s food, than do the right thing and fully fund SNAP for November so that struggling veterans, seniors, and children can keep food on the table. It is incomprehensible, incompetent and inconsistent with our values as Americans.” 

Court action

The earlier order, from U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island, told the department to use sources outside the contingency fund to make full November payments by Friday. The order was appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, acting on behalf of the high court, granted the administration’s request for an emergency stay on Friday night, speeding up the process for what Jackson said would then be an “expeditious” decision by the appeals court but also changing things yet again.

No longer, for the moment, required by a court order to pay full November benefits, the administration instructed states in the Saturday memo to have the vendors that process payments to the electronic benefit transfer cards withhold part of the month’s allotment.

“States must not transmit full benefit issuance files to EBT processors,” Penn wrote. “Instead, States must continue to process and load the partial issuance files that reflect the 35 percent reduction of maximum allotments detailed in the November 5 guidance.”

Shutdown negotiations

SNAP funding has been a key issue during the shutdown. 

In a plan published Sept. 30, the USDA said it would continue to pay for the roughly $9 billion per month program through its contingency fund. The administration reversed itself 10 days later, telling states there would be no SNAP available for November.

A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill filed Sunday would end the shutdown. It includes provisions to fully fund SNAP, the contingency fund and the $23 billion children nutrition programs fund that may be a source of emergency funding for SNAP if the shutdown persists.

Kansas Reflector Editor in Chief Sherman Smith, Wisconsin Examiner Editor in Chief Ruth Conniff and Oregon Capital Chronicle Editor in Chief Julia Shumway  contributed to this report.

A sign in a convenience store in Hyattsville, Maryland, advertises that it accepts SNAP benefits. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

According to Gov. Tony Evers’ administration, over 330,000 Wisconsin households were paid their November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by Friday morning. 

The release of the funds comes as the federal government shutdown entered day 38 on Friday; it’s the longest shutdown in American history.

The lapse in federal funding for SNAP, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin, took effect on Nov. 1 — leaving nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites, including 270,000 kids, without access to food assistance. Two court orders last week directed the Trump administration to pay SNAP benefits by a Wednesday deadline.

This week food banks across the state, including in Milwaukee, have seen a spike in need.

Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr., a federal judge in Rhode Island, ordered the Trump administration Thursday to pay the full month of food assistance benefits for November. McConnell said the Trump administration missed its chance to make partial payments after it failed to release funds by the deadline.

Shortly after the court decision was released, the Evers administration announced it was taking steps to get the funds out the door as soon as possible.

“My administration worked quickly to ensure these benefits could be released as soon as possible so that our kids, families, and seniors have access to basic food and groceries without one more day of delay,” Evers said in a statement Thursday evening. “But let’s be clear — it never should’ve come to this. Wisconsinites should’ve never been without food assistance, period, and they wouldn’t have been if President Trump and the Trump Administration had listened to me and so many who urged them to use all legal funds and levers to prevent millions of Americans from losing access to food and groceries.” 

The Evers administration said Friday morning that it used the same process it typically uses to process benefits, submitting information to its SNAP payment vendor, which processes payments to QUEST cards, a few hours after the court decision to ensure payments would go out as soon as possible. 

The funds became available to households at midnight. According to the administration, a total of about $104.4 million was issued for 337,137 households. It said the payments went out before the Trump administration requested that a federal appeals court block the order from McConnell on Friday morning. The emergency stay has not been granted as of Friday afternoon. 

The administration received notification from the federal Food and Nutrition Service on Friday morning that it was working to implement November benefits in accordance with the Thursday court order.

The Evers administration said it is still monitoring the situation for any issues that may arise related to processing last night’s payments. 

Evers said the actions of the Trump administration are “contemptible” and called on federal Republicans to work with Democrats to end the government shutdown. Last week, Evers had also declared a state of emergency due to the lapse in funding for food assistance, directing state agencies to do everything they could to support Wisconsinites.

“Wisconsinites simply cannot afford another month of Republican dysfunction in Washington,” Evers said. “It’s time for Republicans to get back to work and do the right thing by working across the aisle to end the federal government shutdown to ensure Wisconsinites continue to have access to basic needs, including affordable healthcare and food assistance, moving forward.”

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As appropriations for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s funding remain uncertain because of the government shutdown, Native American tribes across the U.S. have been forced to step in with emergency funds to support families who rely on the federal aid.

It’s a demographic that relies heavily on SNAP, which provides food assistance for approximately 42 million Americans. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 23% of American Indian and Alaska Native households used SNAP benefits in 2023 — nearly double the national average.

And tribal advocates and representatives have warned lawmakers of the risk the government shutdown poses to their communities, including the lapses in funding to SNAP, Head Start and WIC, the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

“Most tribes are taking care of their tribal members. It’s just that they’re taking on a lot of expense at this point,” Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin told NOTUS.

In Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation officials announced on Monday they would use $6.5 million to provide direct checks to citizens on the reservation or in nearby counties. Another $1.25 million will fund nonprofit food programs and local food banks to help support the Cherokee Nation, which is the largest tribe in the country.

In other states, the percentage of people affected by SNAP cuts also disproportionately hits tribal nations. Wisconsin, for example, has 11 federally recognized tribes, and the Menominee tribe is its largest with approximately 8,700 members, according to Wisconsin First Nations. Wisconsin Watch reported that in Menominee County, which is 80% populated by the Menominee Tribe, 46% of residents receive SNAP benefits. Officials for the tribe did not respond to an inquiry from NOTUS.

When asked if he’d been speaking with tribal nations in his state about how they are affected by SNAP cuts, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said, “Well they would be affected like everyone else.”

“I’m opposed to this government shutdown,” Johnson said. “The simple solution is: Vote for the House CR,” referring to the continuing resolution that would end the government shutdown.

Sen. Mike Rounds told NOTUS he has been in contact with the tribal nations in South Dakota.

“The vast majority of the members on most of my reservations, one of their primary sources of money for food is SNAP,” Rounds said. “Our Democrat colleagues, I think, are starting to understand it. But they are wedging because they want something that we can’t deliver, which is an outcome on their proposal to simply continue on with a failed plan on Obamacare.”

A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump on Thursday to issue full SNAP benefits within a day, a decision that comes after a long back and forth over the use of USDA contingency funds. On Friday, the administration filed an appeal to stop that order.

But even ahead of the shutdown, SNAP was already facing cuts. Trump’s reconciliation bill slashed $186 million in SNAP funding through 2034, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The bill, which was signed into law in July, included a $500 million cut in funding to the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program, which allowed states and tribes to procure fresh, locally sourced food.

“I’ve been speaking to tribal leaders and those that are responsible for food programs within sovereign nations, and there’s concern across the board,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján.

Luján’s state of New Mexico has the third-highest percentage of Native Americans in the country. In his previous attempt to pass legislation that would temporarily fund SNAP, Luján included reimbursing the states and tribes that are currently using emergency funding.

When asked if tribes or states would receive these reimbursements, a spokesperson for the USDA blamed Democrats for the shutdown.

“This compromises not only SNAP, but farm programs, food inspection, animal and plant disease protection, rural development, and protecting federal lands,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Senate Democrats are withholding services to the American people in exchange for healthcare for illegals, gender mutilation, and other unknown ‘leverage’ points.”

Historically, tribal reservations are geographically isolated and more likely to be in a food desert.

The only program that remains somewhat untouched by the government shutdown and the reconciliation bill is the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. FDPIR provides monthly boxes of USDA foods that Natives refer to as “commodities” based on their lower nutritional value. Prior to Nov. 1, when SNAP ran out of federal funding because of the shutdown, some nations suggested their members switch from SNAP to FDPIR because households cannot participate in both programs in the same month.

The consensus among lawmakers, however, is to end the shutdown.

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, told NOTUS on Wednesday the effect on Native American communities is simple to describe: “It’s quite bad, disproportionately bad.”

“People deserve to eat,” he added.

NOTUS reporter Manuela Silva contributed to this report.

This story was produced andoriginally published by NOTUS, a publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute.

Native American tribes are struggling in wake of SNAP uncertainty is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Gov. Tony Evers said Wisconsin is restoring benefits for nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites who receive federal food aid. 

The move means the Wisconsinites who rely on food assistance “will not have to wake up tomorrow worried about when or whether they are going to eat next,” Evers said in a Thursday evening statement.

Evers’ announcement came hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin.

The federal government had halted November payments for the program amid the government shutdown. More recently, the administration opted to make partial payments under previous court orders last week. A Wednesday statement from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said the partial payments could add delays because states had to calculate what reduced payments would look like for individuals and get that information to a vendor that distributes the funds.

On Friday morning, the Trump administration filed a motion with a federal appeals court asking for an emergency stay of the Thursday night court order.

Evers’ statement said the state Department of Health Services anticipates benefits would be available Friday morning to FoodShare recipients.

“My administration worked quickly to ensure these benefits could be released as soon as possible so that our kids, families, and seniors have access to basic food and groceries without one more day of delay,” Evers said in a statement. “But let’s be clear — it never should’ve come to this.”

Evers, a Democrat, said the Republican Trump administration should have “listened to (Evers) and so many who urged them to use all legal funds and levers to prevent millions of Americans from losing access to food and groceries.”

Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback told WPR that the state is working to access “readily available federal funding, pursuant to the court’s order.” She said, as of Thursday night, the administration had submitted the necessary information to ensure residents can get their FoodShare benefits “as early as after midnight.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s announcement last month that benefits would be paused was a break from past precedent for the USDA, which had used emergency funds to pay SNAP benefits in previous government shutdowns. Wisconsin was part of a multistate lawsuit seeking to compel the USDA to continue funding the program. 

The lapse in benefits put pressure on Wisconsin recipients of the benefit, as well as food pantries and other service providers. On Thursday prior to the judge’s ruling and Evers’ announcement, the Milwaukee County Board approved $150,000 in assistance for the 234,000 people in that county who receive the benefits.

On Nov. 1, Evers declared a state of emergency and a period of “abnormal economic disruption” in response to the ongoing shutdown and potential lapse in federal food assistance. The executive order directed state agencies to take all necessary measures to prepare for a potential delay in FoodShare payments. It also directed the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to enforce prohibitions against price gouging.

Senate Republicans and Democrats have been deadlocked over a short-term federal funding bill since Oct. 1. Democrats, like U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, are demanding the bill include an extension of COVID-19 era Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits. Without them, Democrats and Evers estimate ACA insurance premiums would spike significantly. Republicans in the Senate are demanding that Democrats vote on a “clean” funding bill. 

On Wednesday, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johson called on his GOP colleagues to kill the Senate’s fillibuster rule, which requires 60 votes in order to pass certain legislation. With a 53-seat majority, Republicans can’t pass their funding bill without Democratic support. Johnson’s comments represent a flip from 2022 when he accused Democrats trying to kill the filibuster of wanting “absolute power.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

FoodShare assistance restored to Wisconsinites, Gov. Tony Evers says is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A sign in a convenience store along Barlowe Road in Hyattsville, Maryland, on Oct. 28, 2025, advertises that it accepts SNAP benefits. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

This report has been updated.

A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to pay roughly $9 billion for a full month of nutrition assistance benefits by the next day.

Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr., who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama, said the administration blew its chance to choose to pay only partial benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, when it failed to release funds by a Wednesday deadline.

He said a social media post by President Donald Trump showed the president sought to use hunger for political leverage during the government shutdown, which stretched into day 37 on Thursday.

Earlier, in a Friday oral order that he expanded in a Saturday written order, McConnell had said the government must either pay full benefits by Monday or partial benefits from a contingency fund by Wednesday. 

The government did neither, he said Thursday.

The administration had argued it was impossible to pay the benefits, which go to 42 million Americans, within a few days, saying that the USDA had never calculated partial benefits and that coordinating new payments for SNAP, a federally funded program administered by the states, was difficult. 

The administration quickly appealed the ruling to the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

“Today is a major victory for 42 million people in America. The court could not be more clear – the Trump-Vance administration must stop playing politics with people’s lives by delaying SNAP payments they are obligated to issue,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, co-counsel for the coalition challenging the administration.

‘USDA cannot now cry’

But McConnell said the department created the problem, in part by failing to prepare for it far earlier. USDA was obligated to spend from a contingency fund to ensure SNAP benefits flowed into November uninterrupted, he said. 

“USDA did not do so,” he said. “Even when Nov. 1 came, USDA refused to use the congressionally mandated contingency funds. USDA cannot now cry that it cannot get timely payments to beneficiaries for weeks or months because states are not prepared to make partial payments.

“USDA arbitrarily and capriciously created this problem by ignoring the congressionally mandated contingency funds and failing to timely notify the states.”

McConnell also pointed to Trump’s post on Truth Social on Tuesday that indicated he would not authorize payments consistent with the judge’s order until Democrats agreed to his terms to end the government shutdown.

“The day before the compliance was ordered, the president stated his intent to defy the court order when he said, ‘SNAP payments will be given only when the government opens,’” McConnell said Thursday.

Child nutrition funding suggested

The USDA had said it would pay only partial November benefits from a contingency fund holding about $4.5 billion, rather than tap into other money at its disposal, including a $23 billion fund for child nutrition programs.

The coalition of cities and nonprofit organizations that sued to force the administration to pay SNAP benefits for November has argued the court should force USDA to pay full benefits for November. 

In addition to the missed Wednesday deadline, the move violated a fundamental administrative law requiring federal agencies not to make arbitrary and capricious decisions, Kristin Bateman of the Democracy Forward Foundation, which is representing the groups, said Thursday.

The child nutrition program would not need its billions of dollars until June, she said, meaning that transferring funds for SNAP would only actually hurt the child nutrition program if the shutdown persists until then.

“A decision on such a highly unlikely set of events is not reasoned decision-making,” Bateman said. “It’s particularly unreasonable because the defendants have not explained why they would choose to let 42 million Americans, including 16 million children, go hungry now in order to guard against the extreme outside chance that come June, there won’t be enough money to fund child nutrition programs.”

McConnell agreed that invoking the child nutrition fund was “entirely pretextual,” which was demonstrated in part by Trump’s post and other statements by administration officials.

“The defendants’ stated desire to conserve funding for the child nutrition programs is entirely pretextual, given the numerous statements made in recent weeks by the president and his administration officials who admit to withholding full SNAP benefits for political reasons,” he said.

McConnell also noted that the case should be resolved as soon as possible to help provide food to hungry people or “needless suffering will occur.”

‘A state problem’

Tyler Becker, who argued on behalf of the USDA, said the department had done its part by making available to states a table showing how they should allocate partial November benefits for households of differing circumstances.

SNAP is a complex program, requiring coordination between the federal government and all 50 states, each of which has a different system for distributing benefits.

“The government did make the payments, is making the payments to the states,” he said. “That’s all the government does in the SNAP program.”

He added that the government had shown earlier in the case some of the administrative difficulties of paying partial benefits.

In a separate case in Massachusetts federal court, some states said they could process the benefits immediately, while others cannot.

“This is a state problem,” he said.

But McConnell cut him off shortly after, saying the federal government was responsible for ensuring people got their SNAP benefits.

“The problem that the government identified needed to be resolved one way or the other by Wednesday,” he said. “And if it wasn’t resolved by Wednesday, then you had to make the full payments, because that’s the only way we could get money to people immediately and alleviate the irreparable harm, whether you could or couldn’t do anything about that.”

In a Sept. 30 contingency plan about how to proceed during a government shutdown, the USDA itself said it would pay for continuing benefits through the contingency fund, which at the time held $6 billion. The administration later reversed that plan and said it could not tap the contingency fund.

In the Massachusetts case, which was brought by 25 Democratic states and the District of Columbia, the states argued Thursday that confusion stemming from a miscalculation the USDA made in determining November partial benefits was a reason to force the administration to pay for a full month.

USDA corrects miscalculation

The hearing followed a late Wednesday night filing from the USDA correcting an error it made in calculating the amounts beneficiaries would receive under its plan for partial payments. 

The department said it will reduce the largest monthly food assistance payments by about 35% in November, down from a 50% cut the department initially estimated.

USDA miscalculated how to adjust benefit payments for SNAP to account for a lack of full funding during the government shutdown, a department official said in a filing to the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island. 

The formula the government initially used and sent to states Tuesday would have resulted in about a 50% cut to the maximum monthly benefits, and left some households without benefits. 

SNAP pays benefits on a sliding scale depending on the size of a household, the household’s income and other expenses such as housing. By cutting the maximum benefit by one-half, the department would have spent about $3 billion from a SNAP contingency fund instead of the full $4.65 billion in the fund, which is what the court ordered it to spend.

The mixup created confusion for state administrators, the states in the Massachusetts litigation said.

“The fact they have been asked to suddenly shift on a dime yet again as a result of these entirely new tables, causing further chaos and delay, underscores that USDA’s approach here is untenable and unlawful,” the states wrote in a Thursday brief.

The error was first reported to McConnell by the coalition of cities and nonprofit organizations that sued to force the government to pay SNAP benefits this month. 

Think tank discovers discrepancy 

An analysis submitted by Sharon Parrott, a former White House budget officer who now leads the left-leaning think tank Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, showed that the table the department submitted to the court and sent to states on Tuesday would fall short of the court’s order to spend the entire contingency fund.

The groups said the department’s error was another reason the court should compel the government to transfer funds to pay out full benefits for November.

“Defendants’ approach means that only around $3 billion—out of the $4.65 billion Defendants have said is available—will be spent on SNAP benefits in November, leaving more than $1.5 billion in contingency funds unspent,” they wrote in a Wednesday brief. “Defendants opted for partial (and delayed) SNAP payments, but even then, did not manage to do that correctly.”

The department said in its filing later Wednesday that it independently discovered its miscalculation and worked to fix it before Parrott’s declaration hit the court docket.

“Defendants realized this error and worked to issue new guidance and tables as soon as it was discovered, not in response to Plaintiffs’ notice filed earlier this evening,” USDA’s brief said.

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The day before federal funding ran out for SNAP, the U.S. Agriculture Department warned retailers against giving discounts to recipients of the nation’s largest food assistance program.

“OFFERING DISCOUNTS OR SERVICES ONLY TO SNAP PAYING CUSTOMERS IS A SNAP VIOLATION UNLESS YOU HAVE A SNAP EQUAL TREATMENT WAIVER,” the Oct. 31 notice said.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps and called FoodShare in Wisconsin, provides food assistance for 42 million low-income people. 

Funding ran out because of the government shutdown, though the Agriculture Department said Nov. 3 it would provide partial SNAP funding for November.

Federal regulations state: “No retail food store may single out” SNAP recipients “for special treatment in any way.”

Some retailers offered discounts.

Retailers can apply for a waiver to offer SNAP discounts on healthier food purchases. SNAP cost $100 billion in 2024, 1.5% of the federal budget.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Associated Press: Judges order Trump administration to use emergency reserves for SNAP payments during the shutdown
• U.S. Agriculture Department: Reminder: SNAP-EBT Authorized Retailers Must Comply with the SNAP Equal Treatment Rule
• Wisconsin Watch: Do half the residents in one rural Wisconsin county receive food stamps?
• CBS News: Trump administration will use SNAP contingency fund to pay partial food stamp benefits
• U.S. Agriculture Department: Waiver Requests to Offer Incentives to SNAP Recipients at SNAP Authorized Stores
• Dane County Farmers Market: Instagram post on discounts

Did the federal government warn retailers not to give discounts to SNAP food stamp recipients? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Fawn Anderson of Eau Claire says she worked her whole life and never applied for food assistance until five months ago when she relocated after a “violent act through domestic violence” upended her life. She started receiving $263 per month, money she said she could count on during uncertain times.

“One of my only safety nets was to not worry about what I was going to be able to eat,” Anderson told WPR.

Now, Anderson is among more than 700,000 Wisconsinites left wondering whether they’ll get their November federal food assistance benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown.

“It’s been like a roller coaster of ups and downs of feeling hopeful and not knowing how to prepare,” Anderson said. 

Anderson volunteers with the Feed My People Food Bank distribution center in Eau Claire. She says she’d gotten multiple calls on Monday from people asking where they can get groceries.

When asked what she’d do if her SNAP benefits don’t come this month, she said she’d “hit the pantries.” Anderson said she’s fed up with politicians arguing when people could go hungry.

“It really shows that they don’t care about us,” said Anderson. 

Nationally, 42 million people get federal food assistance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In Wisconsin, the program is known as FoodShare.

A note on the USDA’s website Monday said “there will be no benefits issued November 01.” It blamed the disruption on Democrats in the U.S. Senate who have refused to support a stopgap federal funding bill that doesn’t include an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits.

On Friday, two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds to keep SNAP benefits moving out the door. On Monday, the administration said partial payments would go to recipients, but didn’t say when. 

In Wisconsin, the state Department of Health Services administers food assistance, but a message on the agency’s website Monday noted the benefits are entirely federally funded.

“DHS is fighting to get November FoodShare benefits out to members,” read the DHS website. “However, benefits will continue to be delayed.”

‘I don’t know why they would take it away’

Clay McKee of Eau Claire has been experiencing homelessness for about a year. Just after noon on Monday, he was finishing his lunch at the Community Table, which provides free meals to anyone with no questions asked. He said he gets around $300 per month from FoodShare.

“I don’t know why they would take it away, and abruptly as well,” said McKee. “I think it’s inconsiderate, you know?”

McKee said he’s resourceful and if his food assistance doesn’t come in November, he’ll get by. But he worries about how others will fare.

“What if a pregnant woman needed food for their baby or something? And now all of a sudden … I hope at least those people you know can get their benefits,” McKee said.

McKee described the standoff in Congress as a “bull**** fight,” but said there are a lot of good people in Wisconsin who will step up and help those in need.

“People will make it,” McKee said. “Maybe we’ll go fishing more, or whatever the heck, you know?”

Lillian Santiago is a single mother who provides food for her seven children. Santiago, who lives in Milwaukee County, has used SNAP benefits on and off over the years. 

“I’ve had three jobs, and it (SNAP) still wasn’t enough to make ends meet,” Santiago said.

Santiago said the uncertainty around the program is leading her to worry about the coming weeks. 

“Paying cash out of pocket for food is — at this time with the economy and things — it’s really expensive,” Santiago said. “And especially when you’re a single parent, doing it on your own, it’s definitely a little struggle.”         

Milwaukee resident Donte Jones has been receiving SNAP benefits for years. Monday, he went to three food pantries to stock up on groceries amid the uncertainty surrounding the benefits.

“The economy out here, how they shut everything down and everybody have to worry about food,” Jones said while standing in line at the The House of Peace food pantry. “Thanksgiving coming up, Christmas coming up. It’s like, what’s going on?”

Jones said he usually gets around $250 in SNAP benefits every month. He’s worried about not receiving enough money from the program in November or December.

“That’s the irritating thing,” he said. “Trying to figure out how to keep food in our freezers.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

‘It really shows they don’t care about us’: Wisconsinites uncertain about November food aid is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A sign in a grocery store indicates that SNAP benefits are accepted. Wisconsin's health department, which administers the state's FoodShare program funded through SNAP, said Tuesday November benefits will be reduced and could take weeks to be paid. (Getty Images)

Despite court orders for the federal government to resume sending federal funds to the states for food assistance programs for the month of November, the money will take weeks or longer to arrive and will only cover a portion of the benefits people are supposed to receive, Wisconsin’s health department confirmed Tuesday.

The delay is a result of the federal decision to spend only the contingency funds said aside for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, according to a statement late Tuesday afternoon from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services communications office. DHS administers Wisconsin SNAP benefits through the state’s FoodShare program.

SNAP benefits stopped flowing Nov. 1 as a result of the federal government shutdown, which has halted federal spending in all but some specific functions of the government.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture declined to tap other funding sources in order to cover the full benefits for November, a department official said in a court document filed Monday.

About 700,000 Wisconsin residents receive SNAP benefits through the FoodShare program, according to DHS. Benefits are distributed to an electronic “QUEST” card that is used like a debit card to purchase food at participating grocers and other vendors.

According to DHS, because of the benefit reduction, states must recalculate the benefits they send to households enrolled in the SNAP program. States must then send an electronic file with the revised benefit information to the electronic benefit transfer businesses that distribute the funds to members’ QWEST cards.

“Due to the many steps that need to be taken as well as the likely bottleneck of only having two vendors that can deploy benefits to cards, the Trump Administration indicates this process will take weeks to months instead of days compared to the timeline if the federal government had chosen to provide full November benefits to states,” DHS said in an update sent to news organizations Tuesday afternoon.

“Because the federal government chose a more complex pathway, the federal government will need to issue guidance to states and then states will have to determine how to allocate partial benefits to each household,” the DHS update stated. “This means the timeline for partial November benefits to be added to [each] member’s cards is still to be determined.”

A provision in the federal mega-bill cutting spending and taxes that President Donald Trump signed July 4 will further complicate the process, according to DHS.

States with error rates of more than 6% in their SNAP programs will bear additional administrative costs. Paying partial benefits rather than full benefits “will force states to use an unprecedented process instead of the process we would typically use,” according to the DHS update, “which has the potential to jeopardize Wisconsin’s and other states’ error rates.”

DHS has asked the Legislature to allocate an additional $69.2 million to the department to cover anticipated increases in administrative costs and hire additional staff to help keep Wisconsin’s error rate low.

Tables that USDA distributed Tuesday indicate that in 48 states, including Wisconsin, the reduced November benefits will range from $149 a month for a one-person household to $497 for a four-person household and $894 for a household of eight. The DHS update noted that “we caution that the tables don’t necessarily reflect what a family would receive.”

Although the Trump administration agreed in court filings to partially fund November’s SNAP benefits, Trump backtracked on that pledge with a social media post, saying that the benefits would not be released until Democrats in Congress agreed to reopen the government.

Tuesday’s update from DHS alluded to the post, stating that the department is “aware of the president’s recent social media message from this morning” — after DHS received the USDA message and the reduced benefit amounts — “and will continue to monitor activity from the federal government.”

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Food stocked on shelves within the Rooted & Rising food center in Milwaukee. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Rooted & Rising, a food center and Hunger Task Force partner, has provided nourishment to people living in Milwaukee’s Washington Park neighborhood for over three decades. The lapse in federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, known in Wisconsin as FoodShare, that began on Saturday is increasing desperation, according to staff. Over the last week, Bill Schmitt, executive director of Rooted & Rising, told the Wisconsin Examiner, “197 households came through the food center…And that’s about a 60% increase over what we would usually see.” 

On Friday, Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency in Wisconsin due to the lapse in federal SNAP funding. 

By Monday afternoon people from more than 50 local households had already arrived at Rooted & Rising to pick up canned goods and  locally grown produce. Schmitt said the numbers on Monday showed a sustained spike. 

Rooted & Rising provides food once a month, or every 30 days, from noon to 4 p.m., in a neighborhood where, according to the food center’s website, the unemployment rate exceeds 15% and 50% of households live below the poverty line. 

“We know a lot of people came out last week,” Schmitt said, referring to the over 60% spike the pantry saw just before  SNAP benefits were cut off. “We’re just trying to keep pace with the demand and make sure that people still have a dignified, respectful experience here and they’re not having to wait too long.” 

Rooted & Rising’s shelves are stocked with assorted canned goods, boxes hold ripe fruits and vegetables and freezers preserve perishables including meat. People sit in chairs while staff buzz past carrying boxes and help load bags into cars. First-time visitors must present an I.D. and a current piece of mail.

On Monday, elderly people and parents with small children visited the food center, gathering  enough food in their carts to last three days or so. “It’s families just like yours and mine really,” said Schmitt. “It is primarily working families. And people are fitting in visits to the food center with their work schedule when they can, or someone’s coming on their behalf. And we know across the state, it’s 700,000 individuals that rely upon these benefits. And the majority of those families…They’re trying to make ends meet.” 

While there was a rise in the number of families visiting the food center at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rooted & Rising has seen a more recent uptick over the last year. In addition to the regulars, many people are either new families or people who hadn’t visited the food center in quite some time. “Our assessment of it is like wages just aren’t keeping pace with inflation,” said Schmitt. “There’s obviously been a sustained period of inflationary pressure in the economy more broadly, and subsequently we’ve seen, I mean, even before this government shutdown, our numbers were considerably higher than the year previous.”

Prior to last year, Rooted & Rising would see between 250-350 households a month. In October,  517 households came to the food center for assistance. 

“It is both the actual impact of the delayed food share benefits going out, but really it’s also like the uncertainty of it that we all know in our own lives,” Schmitt said. 

Leah Boonnam, 33, comes from one of those new families. Monday was the third time she’d come to Rooted & Rising.  She started coming to the food center back in the summer. “It’s a long story,” she said after loading groceries into her car. “I’m a widow. My husband passed a few years ago. So we don’t get FoodShare, I don’t get anything like that. We live off the survivors benefits. And so we’ve had to move a lot, like downsize.” 

A friend told Boonnam to check out the food center, which has been a big help to her family. While she works various jobs, Boonnam’s husband was her family’s main provider. “My plan is to finish paying off my debt to school so I can return and finish my degree, my masters,” she told the Wisconsin Examiner. “However, when I started my program, my husband had passed. It was right at the start of COVID and everything. So, he was the one that was the major breadwinner for our family.” Boonnam said she works hard, but “nothing compares to having two incomes in a household.” 

“I wish people didn’t feel so bad about having to come here,” she added. “This is a really beautiful thing that is available to us. I mean, this is such a help.”

”A lot of the fresh organic stuff that they get here is from the food pantries, and these are local businesses that are helping to support local people,” Boonnam said.

Another visitor, a friendly 48-year-old man who only wanted to be identified by his first name, Isaac, said he’d been coming to Rooted & Rising for about six years. “It’s very important because things are getting hectic and people don’t have no other options,” he said of SNAP.  If food assistance programs were to halt completely, Isaac said he worries  “crime might raise, or a lot of chaos.” He hopes that after the current federal shutdown is over, states will “plan ahead and think ahead,” grow food bank networks and provide “things that can assist folks who are in crisis. … We’ll make it, just a little more tender love and care.”

Bonny Walters, an older woman who has helped out at Rooted & Rising for more than 30 years, has seen the numbers of people needing the food center “increase a lot,” she said.  She hopes that even if people don’t help out at a food center, they understand that the need is real. 

With the future of SNAP still up in the air and the government shutdown continuing, Schmitt said the generosity of neighbors is more important than ever. Across Milwaukee County, food drives are being held to help provide a cushion for local residents who rely on FoodShare to survive. So far, over $74,000 has been raised — enough to provide over 222,000 meals. The Brewers Community Foundation made a $10,000 donation. Local elected leaders have criticized  the Trump administration for using hunger and food security as a political bargaining chip in Washington D.C. 

Schmitt explained that Rooted & Rising, as part of Milwaukee County’s emergency food network, is designed to meet the emergency nutritional needs of families on a monthly basis. “We do not have the capacity, or the resources, or even the physical space or stocks to fill the gap of the loss of FoodShare,” he said. 

“There’s a really visceral situation when you’re talking about people in your communities not having enough to eat and like, skipping meals, or you know, going hungry sometimes, too,” he added. “It’s crazy to think about that — in the wealthiest country in human history that this is an issue that we’re confronting right now. But, people have really been stepping up and we’re going to continue to rely upon that generosity of our community members and partners to kind of recognize that this is a unique moment, and one that requires all of us to work together and kind of meet the moment, meet the need of our fellow community members.”

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Federal funding for SNAP ran out on Nov. 1, and the cuts are affecting about 700,000 Wisconsinites who rely on SNAP. A “SNAP welcomed here” sign is seen at the entrance to a Big Lots store in Portland, Oregon. (Getty Images)

Gov. Tony Evers has declared a state of emergency in Wisconsin due to federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as FoodShare in Wisconsin, being cut off over the weekend.

“Wisconsinites and Americans across the country are now scrambling, trying to figure out how to feed their families,” Evers said in a statement. “There’s no excuse for it, and this is a direct result of Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration, who’ve done nothing to help. As the courts agree, the Trump Administration could’ve stopped this from happening, but they didn’t, and now, Wisconsin’s kids, families, and seniors are worried about whether or when they’re going to eat next. This shouldn’t be happening.” 

Evers issued the declaration on Friday evening and ordered state agencies to take actions within their powers to provide support to Wisconsinites. 

Federal funding for SNAP ran out on Nov. 1, and the cuts are affecting about 700,000 Wisconsinites who rely on SNAP.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a $5 billion contingency fund for SNAP, but the Trump administration had claimed it couldn’t use it to fund regular benefits during the shutdown.

Two judges ruled on Friday that the Trump administration should use the contingency funds. It has until Wednesday to do so. The Trump administration said Monday it would partially fund SNAP following the rulings, though it is unclear how quickly SNAP beneficiaries will receive funds and how much they will receive. 

Until then, Evers said the executive order would help ensure Wisconsin agencies can do what they can within their power to support Wisconsinites. 

The order directs state agencies to take any and all necessary measures to address the emergency by prohibiting price gouging due to loss of FoodShare funding and economic disruptions and ensuring resources are available for Wisconsinites, including information about emergency aid and consumer protection. 

“The federal government shutdown has gone on long enough — it has to end,” Evers said. “Republicans must start working across the aisle to end the federal government shutdown and extend tax credits that will lower the cost of healthcare so Wisconsinites and Americans across our country have economic stability and certainty, and the Trump Administration must take action and do so quickly to fix the damage they’ve caused and ensure folks can get basic food and groceries they need to survive without any further delay.”

Evers is limited in the steps that he can take unilaterally to fill gaps and address the loss of funds. Some states, including Connecticut, Louisiana, Virginia and Vermont, have taken steps to partially fund SNAP using state and local dollars while federal funds are unavailable. For Wisconsin to take similar steps, however, it would require cooperation from the Republican-led Legislature and Evers.

A bill would need to pass both houses of the Legislature to appropriate funds and be signed by Evers. 

Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said in an interview with WISN-12 on Oct. 26 that it was unlikely that state lawmakers would take action to backfill SNAP. 

“My heart goes out to people, but this is a federal issue, and I don’t see the state having the resources to do that,” Felzkowski said. “I just wish that the Democrats would sign this continuing resolution and vote for it, and let’s move on. They shouldn’t be playing games like this. You don’t hold people hostage over these kinds of issues, so no, I don’t see us stepping in.” 

The government shutdown is entering Day 34 with no end in sight, 

During a virtual press conference on Monday, a group of Wisconsin legislative Democrats criticized Republicans for letting SNAP funding lapse and for not taking more actions during the state budget to ensure that state programs support food assistance and farmers, saying they’ve fallen short when it comes to providing necessary aid for Wisconsinites. 

“The federal government is using hunger to negotiate, and I think that’s immoral,” Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) said. 

Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon) noted that the federal funds the Trump administration has agreed to release will not fully fund SNAP. 

“The funds being released — it’s only a partial payment, so there will still be families and kids that go hungry and yet Wisconsin’s portion of FoodShare is about one-third of the White House ballroom,” Jacobson said, referencing the renovations that Trump has undertaken in recent weeks to demolish the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom. “We could get it funded.” 

Pfaff highlighted a number of measures that Democratic lawmakers have proposed this year, including free school meals for students, funding for a food security grant program, which would assist food banks and funding for a farm to fork grant program, which would provide state funding to help connect local entities with cafeterias to nearby farms to provide locally produced foods. 

“Every single one of these measures were either completely eliminated, or as in the case of the Farm to Fork program, severely cut by the Republican-controlled Legislature, which struck $20 million out of our Food Security Grant program, which would be very helpful right now,” Sen. Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) said. 

Asked whether the state Legislature or Evers should play more of a role as the shutdown continues and SNAP isn’t funded, however, Pfaff said the lawmakers were “not here today to talk about that.”

“What we are here today is to talk about what the [state] Legislature has within its jurisdiction right now, there’s bills that are ready to go,” Pfaff said.

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A produce cooler at Willy Street Co-op in Madison, Wisconsin. FoodShare funding from the federal government will stop Nov. 1 if the federal government shutdown continues. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

Milwaukee elected leaders gathered outside the county’s Marcia P. Coggs Health and Human Services Building on Friday, providing updates to residents and praising the community’s resilience amidst the ongoing federal government shutdown. 

“Milwaukee County is strong and resilient, but the health and wellbeing of our residents and families should never be casualties of political fights in Washington,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. “Until this federal shutdown ends, we will do what we always do: look out for our neighbors and step up to help in times of need. I’m grateful to our community partners and encourage every resident who is able to join us in caring for our community.”  

Beginning Saturday Nov. 1, people across the state who depend on the Wisconsin FoodShare assistance program will be at risk of losing that aid, due to the discontinuation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as a result of the government shutdown.

A Milwaukee County press release said that over 230,000 local residents will be left without food assistance “with no clear end in sight”. The release also noted that if the shutdown continues into December, then Section 8 housing benefits will also be on the chopping block. This aspect of the shutdown could lead the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services to not pay federally mandated portions of rent costs, placing a strain on tenants and small-scale landlords. 

“I have been clear as day: no one wins in a shutdown,” said U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin. “Republicans and Donald Trump need to finally come to the table to end this shutdown and lower health care costs for families…Wisconsin families just want to live a comfortable life where they can put food on the table, afford their health care and monthly bills, and not have Washington politics butting into their life. While Wisconsin’s House Republicans are on day 42 of a paid vacation and President Trump is just coming home from another foreign trip, Wisconsinites are going to wake up tomorrow to find their health care premiums are skyrocketing and food assistance is being taken from them. Enough is enough.”

 

Food drive donations are being accepted at locations across the county including:

• Milwaukee City Hall (200 E. Wells St)
• Milwaukee County Courthouse (901 N. 9th St)
• Zeidler Municipal Building (841 N. Broadway)
• Marcia P. Coggs Health & Human Services Center (1230 W. Cherry St)
• Hillview (1615 S. 22nd Street)
• Fiserv Forum (1111 Vel R. Phillips Avenue)
• All Milwaukee public schools 
• All Milwaukee library branches
• The Mason Temple Church (6058 N. 35th St)
  

Residents can also donate to NourishMKE or Feeding America if they’d like to provide financial assistance to programs. While republicans blame the shutdown on democrats wanting to protect people living in the country without legal documentation, democrats say they’re attempting to preserve Affordable Healthcare Act health insurance subsidies which, if allowed to expire, would lead to inflated health costs for people across the country, including some 310,000 Wisconsinites, many of whom would see their insurance payments rise between 45 and 800%.

“This hunger crisis did not need to happen,” said Congresswoman Gwen Moore in a statement. “The Trump Administration is purposefully withholding $5 billion in contingency funding, so they can inflict maximum pain and hardship on the American people…Unlike what Republicans claim, this won’t only hurt my district, but their constituents throughout Wisconsin, including rural areas. SNAP is a lifeline, not a political weapon.” 

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said he was grateful that neighbors were uniting “so that hunger does not rule the day.” Johnson said, however that, “donations and food drives are a temporary fix. We need resolution to this shutdown so that the federal government can resume the important work we ask of it.”

As the government shutdown continues, federal employees who work in Milwaukee County are also feeling the pressure. Many have been furloughed from their jobs, or are working without pay. At Mitchell International Airport, federal air traffic and security workers are not getting paid, as are Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workers. The Veteran Affairs Regional Benefits Office in Milwaukee is closed due to furloughed employees. 

 

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As uncertainty surrounds Wisconsin’s SNAP program, also known as FoodShare, some community members are finding ways to support others in their time of need. 

Wisconsin’s FoodShare program serves more than 700,000 Wisconsin residents. FoodShare is funded through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. SNAP benefits across the country are at risk during the government shutdown.

After the Trump administration said it planned to to freeze payments to SNAP on Nov. 1, two federal judges on Friday ruled the administration must draw from contingency funds to keep aid flowing during the shutdown.

But those rulings may be appealed and benefits may be delayed.

Here are some things you can do if you live in Milwaukee and want to support anyone who might become impacted by FoodShare delays. 

What you should know

The Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee is in a position to provide resources to those impacted, according to Reno Wright, advocacy director for the nonprofit. 

“We do know that November payments are going to be delayed, but that eventually they will have access to those November benefits,” he said.

People can go to HungerTaskForce.org and access the “Get Help” page, and from there they will be able to find the nearest meal site or food pantry to them and their families, Wright said.

In the meantime, he said, FoodShare recipients should ensure their contact information is up to date to receive future updates.

You can also follow the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ FoodShare update page. 

What’s being done

Food drive

The city of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Milwaukee Public Schools and other partners launched a citywide food drive to help residents impacted by the federal shutdown and a pause of FoodShare benefits. 

Collaboration to support food pantries

Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin and Nourish MKE are collaborating with the groups to collect nonperishable food and monetary donations to support Milwaukee food pantries. 

Residents can visit the City of Milwaukee’s Food Drive page or Milwaukee County’s Food Assistance page for information on how to donate. 

Community fridges

Metcalfe Park Community Bridges has been organizing around food needs and access through advocacy and opening community fridges. 

To keep up with or support Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, you can follow the group’s Facebook page. 

Advocacy efforts

The Hunger Task Force’s Voices Against Hunger is encouraging people to urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, into helping. 

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture has the authority and the resources to prevent an interruption in benefits by using SNAP contingency funds, transferring funds from other departments and issuing clear guidance to state agencies. The tools to make sure families do not go hungry during this holiday season are available, and what is needed now is immediate administrative action and political will,” an email blast from the group stated.

Other efforts

Additionally, groups like the Hunger Task Force and Feeding America are gearing up to help those in need with donation campaigns and new trucks for food delivery. 

How you can help

Wright said the Hunger Task Force’s Voices Against Hunger is a statewide platform where information is sent out to let people know about things that are going on at the state and federal level, including federal nutrition programs like FoodShare. 

You can sign up for the group here and support the Voices Against Hunger efforts here. 

Shavonda Sisson, founder of the Love on Black Women Mutual Aid fund, took to social media to share concerns and ways to help. 

“We are all deeply concerned about the millions of families who will be impacted by the possible delays in SNAP benefits,” she said. “In times like these, community becomes crucial.” 

Sisson’s tips on how you can help your neighbors: 

• Reach out to your local food bank to see if it is accepting donations of time, food or money. All are going to be crucial.   
• Share your favorite low-cost meal plans and recipes. 
• Share a simple list of free hot meal sites, pantry hours and community fridges in your city. Keep it updated and easy to reshare.
• Stock and restock community fridges and neighborhood pantry boxes.
• If you own or manage a business, create a pantry shelf or offer shift meals and grocery stipends.

Others advocates said you can:

• Keep up with your neighbors and help where you can. 
• Offer rides to pick up food for those in need. 
• Volunteer at your neighborhood food pantries.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America. 

How you can help neighbors in need if SNAP benefits are paused is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Fruit is displayed at an Anchorage grocery store. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

WASHINGTON — The near-certain freeze on key federal nutrition programs will put particular pressure on tribal communities, according to advocates and U.S. senators of both parties.

American Indian and Alaska Native communities are scrambling to fill anticipated gaps in food security and assistance created by the lack of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, during the ongoing government shutdown.

Sarah Harris, the secretary of United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. and United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund, a nonprofit and an associated advocacy group for 33 federally recognized tribal nations from Texas to Maine, told the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee during a Wednesday hearing that uncertainty over the availability of SNAP and WIC benefits is forcing tribal nations to cover the shortfall.

“Given the emergent nature of all of this crisis, tribes are scrambling, and so they’re spending their own time and resources to provide the most basic of human needs — food — for their citizens,” Harris said.

Harris gave an example of her nonprofit’s president, Penobscot Indian Nation Chief Kirk Francis, who was working with his tribal council to reallocate $200,000 to bridge the nutrition funding gap for November alone. 

“This includes asking tribal hunters to donate moose meat so that elders can be fed,” she said.

A 2024 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that food insecurity among American Indian and Alaska Native households is “significantly greater than for all U.S. households.” 

Federal ‘failure’ squeezes tribal nations 

Congress failed to fund SNAP and WIC, two major U.S. Department of Agriculture initiatives — and nearly every other discretionary federal program — for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

USDA has said it will not tap into its multi-year contingency fund to keep the program that serves 42 million people afloat in November — an about-face from its Sept. 30 shutdown plan that said it would use such funds during the shutdown. 

Lawsuits are underway to force USDA to use its reserve fund.

WIC serves nearly 7 million people and offers “free healthy foods, breastfeeding support, nutrition education and referrals to other services,” according to USDA. The program got a $300 million infusion from USDA to keep it running through October. But as November approaches, advocates are calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to provide additional emergency funds.

Some states are working to cover the funding shortfall for SNAP recipients. Tribal nations are as well, Harris said Wednesday.

“We must further subsidize to provide for the failure of our federal partners to meet their trust and treaty obligations,” she said.

“It’s also important to recognize, too, that tribal nations, we already face long-standing and continuing challenges with providing access to healthy and nutritious food for our citizens, and the challenges contribute to health and educational and overall wellness disparities across all of our tribal communities,” Harris added. 

Deciding between ‘fuel and food’

Ben Mallott, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, said that without SNAP and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, “our communities and tribal citizens will have to decide between fuel and food.” 

LIHEAP helps assist low-income families with energy costs and is managed under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program has faced funding uncertainties and disruptions due to the shutdown. 

Mallott, who leads the largest statewide Native organization in Alaska, noted that “in some of our communities, elders are there alone and might not have family to help them with food security.” 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who chairs the Senate committee, said concerns about “food versus fuel” are “very real when we talk about food insecurity.” 

The Alaska Republican also pointed to a major typhoon that hit her state earlier in October and its impacts on food supply. 

“We have heard and seen the pictures of the loss from the Typhoon Halong, and you see devastation within the village,” Murkowski said. “But the part of it that is really heartrending is when you see freezers that have been stocked with subsistence foods … all that had been gathered that would take these families through the winter that now is lost because there’s no power in these villages, and so their food source for the winter is gone.” 

Coupled with the reliance on SNAP, Murkowski said “this is a point that for many in Alaska is tangibly real and tangibly frightening, and so, everything that we can do to make sure that SNAP and WIC funding is able to proceed, I think, has got to be a priority for us.”

Impacts on tribal nations in Minnesota, Nevada 

Other senators on the panel highlighted the consequences of funding for nutrition programs running out for Native communities in their states.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said that 200 families living in the Duck Valley Indian Reservation would “lose access to essential food support.”

In response, the “tribe is preparing to rely on traditional practices such as hunting elk to feed their members,” adding that “it’s important to highlight how serious of an issue this will become,” she said.

Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said she’s hearing from tribal nations in her state about people switching from SNAP to another USDA program, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, or FDPIR.

“I’m hearing from Minnesota tribes that there’s kind of switching happening right now, as people are trying to figure out where is the best place to be able to get stable sources of nutrition assistance for folks on tribal lands,” she said.

FDPIR provides food “to income-eligible households living on Indian reservations and to Native American households residing in designated areas near reservations or in Oklahoma,” according to USDA. 

Households are not allowed to participate in both SNAP and FDPIR in the same month. The agency said average monthly participation for FDPIR in fiscal 2023 included 49,339 people. 

“People are in the midst of sort of trying to figure out how to change their benefits,” Smith said.

She added that this came on top of massive cuts to SNAP in Trump’s signature tax and spending cut package he signed into law earlier this year. 

This report was corrected to reflect that Sarah Harris, the secretary of United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. and United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund, in her remarks referred to moose meat.

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Update (Oct. 31, 2025): A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to tap into its reserves to partially pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is set to run out of funding on Saturday.

U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell heard oral arguments Friday in a case brought by various cities and nonprofits. After the hearing, the judge ruled from the bench that the Department of Agriculture “must distribute contingency money timely or as soon as possible for the Nov. 1 payments to be made,” The New York Times reported.

“There is no doubt — and it is beyond argument — that irreparable harm will begin to occur, if it hasn’t already occurred in the terror it has caused some people about the availability of funding for food for their family,” McConnell said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “That irreparable harm will occur if this injunction does not pass and if SNAP benefits are not paid consistent with the mandate from Congress.”

The Department of Agriculture initially said it planned to use the more than $5 billion in contingency funds that are legally intended “for use only in such amounts and at such times as may become necessary to carry out program operations” to cover SNAP benefits. However, the Trump administration later changed course, claiming it was illegal to use that money for SNAP, and quietly deleting the initial guidance from USDA’s website.

Despite the ruling, it’s likely that the 42 million people who rely on SNAP will miss at least part of their benefits, because the process of distributing the funds did not begin as early as usual due to the shutdown.

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Update (Oct. 31, 2025): U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani issued an order Friday declaring that the Trump administration’s “suspension of SNAP benefits is unlawful.” This case was brought by a coalition of Democratic states that filed a lawsuit Tuesday, arguing that the government’s decision to not use contingency funds was “contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.”

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A bipartisan coalition of state officials, including Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, sued the Department of Agriculture on Tuesday to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program partially funded through November.

In a press release obtained by NOTUS ahead of the lawsuit being filed, New York Attorney General Letitia James argued the administration is unlawfully allowing SNAP to run out of funding when it has “access to billions of dollars in contingency funds that Congress specifically appropriated to keep benefits flowing during funding lapses.”

The coalition of state officials, which includes attorneys general and governors, filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Massachusetts. They are asking for a court to immediately intervene to keep funding, which is set to run out at the end of the month, flowing. The program is facing the possibility of its first-ever pause in funding because of the government shutdown.

“Millions of Americans, including children, seniors, and veterans, are on the verge of losing access to the food assistance they rely upon,” Kaul said. “No one should have to go hungry because of dysfunction in our federal government.”

Politico first reported that dozens of Democratic attorneys general and governors were considering legal action. The coalition includes officials from New York, Nevada, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and California.

Nevada’s and Vermont’s attorneys general are part of the lawsuit, the only states listed that have Republican governors. In all, more than 24 states and the District of Columbia are involved.

“We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. Continue to hold out for the Far-Left wing of the party or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive timely WIC and SNAP allotments,” a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said in a statement in response to the lawsuit.

In a memo Axios reported last week, the Department of Agriculture took the position that it would not tap into contingency funds and also argued that states that picked up the tab in the meantime could not be legally reimbursed.

The coalition of state officials is asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order mandating USDA to use all of the “available contingency funds toward November SNAP benefits for all plaintiff states.”

It’s one of several steps state officials are trying to take to preserve SNAP benefits, which nearly 42 million people across the country rely on. Outside of legal action, state officials have sought to tap emergency funding in their own states — though some have protested the lack of assurance that the federal government will reimburse their states and have argued that it’s the federal government’s responsibility.

This story was produced and originally published by NOTUS, a publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute.

UPDATE: Judge declares suspension of SNAP benefits unlawful after Wisconsin, other states sued is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A produce cooler at Willy Street Co-op in Madison, Wisconsin. FoodShare funding from the federal government will stop Nov. 1 if the federal government shutdown continues. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

With 10 days to go until Nov. 1, the effects of the federal government shutdown are hitting closer to home in Wisconsin.

Unless the shutdown ends by that date, Wisconsin’s FoodShare program, which serves more than 700,000 Wisconsin residents — about 12% of the state’s population — will run out of funds Nov. 1, Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday. FoodShare is funded through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, previously known as Food Stamps.

Two Wisconsin Head Start early childhood education programs are at risk for not receiving their expected federal authorization that was to start Nov. 1, according to Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association.

“Our social safety net is stretched,” Mauer said Tuesday. “This is just going to really short communities, and I think providers are bracing. We just don’t know the tidal wave that’s going to hit us, so everybody is really concerned.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture notified states earlier this month that the SNAP program would not have enough funds to pay full benefits to the program’s 42 million participants nationwide.

The department directed states to hold off on the transactions that move SNAP funds onto the electronic benefit cards that FoodShare members use to buy groceries.

FoodShare “may not be available at all next month if the federal government shutdown continues, leaving nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites without access to basic food and groceries,” the governor’s office said in a statement Tuesday.

“President Trump and Republicans in Congress must work across the aisle and end this shutdown now so Wisconsinites and Americans across our country have access to basic necessities like food and groceries that they need to survive,” Evers said.

Both the FoodShare and Medicaid programs refer to their participants as members. “FoodShare benefits are 100 percent funded by the federal government and the shutdown will need to end before members can begin getting benefits again,” the state Department of Health Services announced in the FoodShare news page Tuesday.

If FoodShare benefits stop in November, they won’t be lost, but they will be delayed, said Matt King, CEO of the Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee. When the shutdown ends, benefits will become available again, including those not paid during the shutdown.

The Hunger Task Force supplies food pantries throughout the greater Milwaukee area. If benefits stop, food pantry operators and suppliers expect to see a sharp increase in the need for their services.

“FoodShare is the first and most critical line of defense against hunger,” King said Tuesday. “The food pantry network across Wisconsin acts as a safety net to help people in an emergency. It’s not set up to be a sustainable source of food to meet all of their grocery needs.”

While helping people get access to food in an emergency, the food pantry network also works to connect people with “more sustainable and ongoing resources like the FoodShare program,” he said.

The impending pause on FoodShare funds will compound a need that has already increased by 35% across the state in the past year, King said. “The longer the government shutdown goes on, the more strain it will put onto the emergency food system.”

Mauer of the Head Start association said two of the state’s 39 Head Start programs were to receive authorization for their next round of funding starting Nov. 1, and with them the ability to draw on their federal grants for the next several months.

So far, the authorization hasn’t been received, Mauer said. In addition, however, if the authorization is issued but the shutdown remains in effect, “there’s no money” until a budget is enacted, she added. “They need money in the coffers for [Head Start agencies] to draw down.”

The issue will repeat for programs that must reauthorize by Dec. 1 and Jan. 1 if the shutdown continues.

The remaining Head Start programs are not believed to be in peril, Mauer said, because their grants have already been funded by the previous fiscal year’s appropriations.   

The Head Start program operated by the Sheboygan Human Rights Association is one of the two awaiting its Nov. 1 reauthorization and the new round of funding that would ordinarily begin then.

“At this point, we are unsure how we will be affected,” said Theresa Christen-Liebig, the executive director of the nonprofit. The agency is using “some state funding resources to continue services until mid-November,” Christen-Liebig told the Wisconsin Examiner in an email. The agency’s board will meet next week to consider its steps for the rest of November and beyond, she said.

“The uncertainty makes the situation stressful and hard on our staff and families,” Christen-Liebig said. “We are keeping everyone updated as we try to work things out and decisions are made to continue to provide services.”

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The clock is ticking before Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will be delayed for approximately 42 million Americans in November due to the federal government shutdown.

That leaves just nine days until Wisconsin — a key battleground state with two competitive House races in the 2026 midterms — runs out of funding for its food assistance program, Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday. Already, November benefits will certainly be delayed, Evers said.

“President Trump and Republicans in Congress must work across the aisle and end this shutdown now so Wisconsinites and Americans across our country have access to basic necessities like food and groceries that they need to survive,” Evers said in a statement.

The governor is one of several Wisconsin Democrats who added SNAP delays to the long list of shutdown impacts they blame on Republicans.

“I want the government to reopen and to lower health care costs and to undo some of the devastating things that were done in Trump’s signature legislation, the ‘Big, Ugly bill,’” Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin told NOTUS. “It’s in the Republicans’ hands to do that.”

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley introduced legislation on Tuesday to use unappropriated Treasury funds for payment of SNAP benefits during the shutdown. It is unclear if his bill will gain traction in the Senate.

“We need to start forcing Democrats to make some tough votes during this shutdown,” he said in an X post.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson declined to comment on SNAP’s funding lapsing.

Nearly 700,000 people rely on FoodShare, Wisconsin’s SNAP program for families and seniors that is entirely funded by federal dollars. Wisconsin’s program already took a hit from Trump’s budget law, which will raise the state’s portion of administrative costs for running FoodShare by at least $43.5 million annually.

Wisconsin is among a slew of states sounding the alarm on SNAP funding, with Texas officials setting Oct. 27 as the last day before benefits will be disrupted. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his state’s food assistance program may be disrupted if the government does not reopen by Thursday, and Pennsylvania’s Department of Health Services announced that benefits will not be paid starting last week.

Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the Madison area, lamented risks to FoodShare in a statement to NOTUS.

“This funding risk could be resolved tomorrow if Republicans would return to Washington to vote with Democrats on a bill to fund the government and protect access to affordable health care for millions of Americans,” he said.

November benefits will be delayed in Wisconsin “even if the shutdown ends tomorrow,” according to the announcement from Evers’ office.

It is not yet certain that delays in benefits will occur, and any disruptions would be a deliberate “policy choice,” said Gina Plata-Nino, the interim director for SNAP at the Food Research & Action Center.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture could use a similar tactic as Trump did when he directed the Defense Department and the Office of Management and Budget on Oct. 15 to issue on-time paychecks to active duty members of the military using leftover appropriated funds, Plata-Nino told NOTUS.

The Trump administration transferred $300 million to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children to prevent benefits disruptions earlier this month. The Department of Agriculture will release more than $3 billion in aid to farmers during the shutdown.

“It is in their hands to issue a letter to the states and say, ‘We have $6 billion in contingency funding. We’re going to go ahead and utilize that, and we’re looking for sources of funding like we did for WIC, but then also how we’ve done to farmers when there’s been issues,” Plata-Nino said.

Plata-Nino said states and Electronic Benefit Transfer processors — companies that process EBT transactions for stores — would need to know they are getting contingency funds by later this week or early next week for SNAP benefits to go out smoothly on Nov. 1.

“Even if on the 30th, the USDA acts late and then finally issues its contingency funds, benefits are still going to be late,” she added.

Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, said in a statement Republicans should “come to the negotiating table” on the shutdown.

“After already cutting FoodShare in their One Beautiful Bill, Republicans’ inaction could again increase hunger and food insecurity,” she said.

When asked about FoodShare delays, Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican from northern Wisconsin who is running to replace Evers, pointed to Democrats’ 11 votes against Republicans’ continuing resolution bills.

“Maybe Governor Evers should ask Senator Baldwin why she is blocking the bipartisan budget bill and holding these programs hostage,” Tiffany said in a statement.

Republican Rep. Tony Wied, who represents the Green Bay area, pointed at Baldwin and other Democrats’ votes against the continuing resolution, accusing them of playing “political games.”

“House Republicans voted for a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open and ensure critical programs like FoodShare continue uninterrupted,” Wied said in a statement to NOTUS. “I am calling on Senator Baldwin and the rest of her Democratic colleagues to change course and vote to open the government immediately so Wisconsinites in need do not have to worry about going hungry.”

But Danielle Nierenberg, the president of the nonpartisan advocacy organization Food Tank, said Democrats and Republicans are “both in the wrong” for potential SNAP disruptions.

“Food should never have been politicized in this way. So whether you’re Democrat or a Republican you shouldn’t be punishing poor people for just being poor and denying them the benefits they deserve,” Nierenberg said.

This story was produced and originally published by Wisconsin Watch and NOTUS, a publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute.

Wisconsin members of Congress point fingers as SNAP benefits run out is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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As October comes to an end, the threat of missing FoodShare and WIC benefits looms for people across Wisconsin and across the nation. 

In an Oct. 10 letter, Sasha Gersten-Paal, director of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s development division, said: “SNAP has funding available for benefits and operations through the month of October. However, if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the nation.” 

Nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites receive food and nutrition assistance through FoodShare. 

Here are some things you can do if you live in Milwaukee and may be impacted by a lack of food resources in November.

Food resources 

If you or someone you know needs emergency food, call 2-1-1, or visit the IMPACT 211 website here. 

Hunger Task Forces’ Mobile Market : Operating as a grocery store on wheels, the Mobile Market provides healthy and affordable food options to families. The Mobile Market offers 25% off all items beyond Piggly Wiggly’s prices. 

To find out where the Mobile Market will be next, you can look at the Hunger Task Force website.

Community-powered fridges: In September, Tricklebee Café, One MKE and Metcalfe Park Community Bridges opened a community-powered fridge. Several more are planned to open. 

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin provides a pantry locator and distributes food to partners across the region. 

UMOS operates a food pantry for residents in the 53207 and 53221 ZIP codes, as well as all first-time visitors. 

NourishMKE is a network of community food centers that provides a market-style experience for selecting and preparing food. 

Milwaukee Christian Center offers community services, including a food pantry. 

Tricklebee Café hosts a pay-what-you-can community café that provides meals.

Milwaukee County Senior Dining Program provides nutritious lunches to seniors 59 and older at various senior centers. 

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

SNAP benefits may not go out in November. Here’s where you can go for food assistance. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Those who utilize FoodShare and Medicaid may see some changes soon, the result of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” 

Here is what you need to know. 

Changes to FoodShare (SNAP)

Nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites receive food and nutrition assistance through FoodShare. 

Reno Wright, advocacy director for Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee, said that while no changes have been enacted yet, the bill calls for a series of modifications. 

Some include: 

• Expanded work requirements. The age range for adults required to meet work requirements will increase from 18-54 to 18-64. Parents of children age 14 and older will now also need to meet work requirements.
• Restrictions for new legal immigrants: Before the bill, many immigrants like those with refugee status were exempt from the five-year waiting period that some legal permanent residents face to qualify for FoodShare benefits. The new law removes these exemptions, effectively making many new immigrants ineligible for the food assistance program. 
• Stricter exemption rules: Some people like veterans, people who are homeless and former foster youths aged 18-24 are exempt from having to meet work requirements in order to receive SNAP benefits. The bill removes those exemptions. 

These changes will only be implemented once the Wisconsin Department of Health Services receives further guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Wright said current FoodShare recipients should ensure their contact information is up to date to receive future updates.

Changes to medical benefits

Approximately one in five Wisconsinites (or 1 million people) receive health care coverage and services through Wisconsin’s Medicaid programs. Almost half of Wisconsin Medicaid members are children.

The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee Minority released a statement indicating that 276,175 Wisconsinites will lose health care coverage under both the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid because of the new law over the next decade.

In Milwaukee County, 19,951 people are at high risk of losing health coverage. 

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and a webinar from the National Press Foundation helped explain what’s going to change. 

Some changes include: 

• Expanded work requirements: Recipients will now have to do 80 hours a month of qualifying activities like work, school or volunteering. 
• Restrictions for new legal immigrants: Refugees and other people in the U.S. for humanitarian reasons are generally exempt from the standard five-year waiting period to receive Medicaid benefits. The bill removes that exemption.  
• Recipients have to be requalified for coverage and services every six months. 
• Cost-sharing requirements will expand. 

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, these changes will force working people off the program because of red-tape work reporting requirements; increase medical debt and uncompensated care; increase Wisconsin’s uninsured population; and prevent Wisconsin from innovating and designing the best program for the state. 

These changes are set to take effect in late 2026. 

What’s being done to help

Alyssa Blom, a communications manager with the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, said that while the full impact of the Medicaid cuts is still unclear, the department is supporting those impacted. 

“We are concerned about how they may affect access to programs and services, especially for the most vulnerable in Milwaukee County,” she said. “Our priority is to continue supporting Medicaid recipients and ensuring continuity of care, while preparing for potential changes ahead.” 

Wright said the Hunger Task Force has an advocacy group called Voices Against Hunger. It is a statewide platform where information is sent out to let people know about things that are going on at the state and federal level, including federal nutrition programs like FoodShare. 

You can sign up for the group here.

What you need to know about changes to FoodShare (SNAP) and Medicaid is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.