By Cindy Bregin Crouch
Emmy Award Winning Investigative Reporter
October 25, 2025
FOOD CRISIS: SNAP UPDATE
November 1, 2025
I went to bed last night praying for the millions of Americans who actually need and depend on their SNAP benefits in order to be able to eat. I was hoping they would wake up to find Saturday morning, November 1, their SNAP benefits were still in place.
However, that does not seem to be the case. This marks the first time in recent history that snap payments have been halted because of the government shut down. More than 40 million people rely on SNAP for food assistance. The USDA announced that it would not issue payments today leaving millions without essential food support.
Until this deal gets hammered out, different states in the nation are responding to the crisis. Among the several governors governors providing help to those affected:
-California governor Gavin Newsom, in a very Trump like move, has deployed National Guard troops in his state to make sure food banks in California run smoothly and to help with the safety of donations.
-Arizona governor Katie Hobbs has allocated $1.8 million in state funds toward the crisis. $1.5 million will be directed to Food banks the additional 300,000 for a fresh food program offering vouchers to SNAP recipients.
-In other states SNAP recipients are being encouraged to use local food banks to stock up on shelf stable items.
Legal actions are on the way as democratic leaders from 25 states are planning to sue the Agriculture Department over the delayed SNAP payments.
The rumors in Washington swirl around the fact that Democrats think Trump is playing hardball on these supplemental food benefits. It is believed Trump wants Democrats to wake up and get back to work. So it appears the SNAP program and it’s recipients have become a giant volleyball being swatted back-and-forth between Democrats and Republicans. And of course, the courts are involved issuing several rulings that it appears the White House is choosing to not take action on to get SNAP funded and back on line. I will continue to follow this story. I am thinking we won’t see any meaningful action on this until Monday. Trump is currently at Mar-a-Lago. He attended Halloween party last night. I can’t help but continue to think Trump is using SNAP as a pressuring tool against Democrats to get the government reopened.
On October 1, 2025, the USDA sent a letter out to all fifty states saying if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full SNAP benefits in November. As of October 25, there has been no movement on this issue. Nothing is getting done due to the Government shutdown.
For Tracy Dilworth and his family, their two grocery stores process about 12% of Dill’s Food City’s monthly haul from SNAP benefits. “We’re in a middle to lower income area. At the first of the month, SNAP can account for up to 22% of our business.”
Dilworth and his brother Stan say SNAP has presented consistent challenges. The family owns two grocery stores. One is located in Royston and the other in Lavonia. “When we would catch people out in the parking lot trying to buy and sell SNAP credits we would go out and say ‘Hey, I need you all to leave.’ The fraud itself has really gone down since it became a digital transfer system with its actual card. They did this to try and take away the stigma.”
If we wake up on November first and SNAP benefits have been discontinued that means nearly 42 million people across the US will lose their SNAP benefits. The program reaches more than 1.4 million people in the state of Georgia. Nearly half of them are children. In a letter from the Georgia Food Industry Association dated October 20th, the organization updated members. “As retailers prepare for holiday sales, the GFIA is normally working on a holiday benefit schedule to allow participants to receive their SNAP early. With the government shut down, everyone is holding their breath that legislators will come to some agreement, and November benefits will be funded with no delay in the benefit schedule.”
To Dilworth that means hard times ahead for a lot of his store’s patrons if SNAP legislation is not passed. “You know it literally looks like it’s a Mastercard issued by the state. They used to be little coupon booklets. It used to be easier for people to take those booklets and trade them for other things.” The Dilworth brothers think it’s all going to come down to what they call “a two-minute warning.” Tracy Dilworth says, “I think they are going to peel off the exact amount of votes they feel will not hurt their reelection chances. I think there will be just enough defection to open the government back up.”
In the state of Georgia one in eight people depend on SNAP. The benefits are not extravagant. State leaders at the GFIA say the benefits reduce food insecurity. In their latest newsletter, the GFIA says the benefits reduce food insecurity by 30%. On average, SNAP recipients in Georgia receive about six dollars per day in food benefits. Those benefits can only be used for food.
The USDA was planning to use unused tariff revenue to fund the October SNAP benefits and WIC administration until November 1, 2025. If the current Government shutdown continues it does not bode well for SNAP. Currently, the USDA has instructed states to hold their November issuance files and delay transmission of benefits until further notice.
