Massachusetts recently announced that, due the federal government shutdown, November SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits are officially delayed, leaving many households without food assistance. Congress’s failure to pass the FY2025 appropriations for SNAP in October have put enormous strain on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), responsible for overseeing SNAP allotments. Legal uncertainty deepens the crisis. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused a Rhode Island court order requiring the administration to fully fund SNAP. With only limited contingency funding, states are following reduced guidelines for SNAP payments leading to many delayed and cancelled funds. Four million people are set to lose $100 on average per month from these cuts.

This situation undercuts traditional claims that SNAP is riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse. Republicans, citing the growing “improper payments” rate of 10.93% (or $10.91 billion) in fiscal year 2024 post-COVID signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) back in July of 2025. The bill sought to punish states with an error rate above 6% by withholding a portion of federal SNAP funding. Yet amid the current shutdown, focusing on the concern of overpayments seems completely out of touch. The 10% error rate seems to be a small price to pay to prevent the 100% of recipients losing out on monthly benefits.

Proponents for SNAP reductions also cite the need for new work requirements to incentivize “more able-bodied Americans to self-sufficiency”. Under OBBBA, recipients must work at least 80 hours per month, despite research findings that cutting SNAP participation has null effects on the change in people’s employment or earnings. The 2023 paper found these policies disproportionately exclude vulnerable populations, dismantling SNAP’s core function as a social safer net.

Beyond social welfare, SNAP acts as an automatic economic stabilizer. During expansions, fewer households qualify for SNAP, reducing spending. During recessions, more families becoming eligible for SNAP benefits inject much-needed demand back into the economy. Flexibility is key to macro-level economic stability. Some improper payments are a natural friction of this regulating system—but cutting or heavily reducing this system causes a much greater welfare impact than $10.91 billion.

The delayed November SNAP benefits impels us to reconsider the rhetoric behind the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Its rigid provisions will block state and local governments from responding to funding cuts in the future, laying a dangerous precedent for another food crisis.


Works Cited:
Boston Government. “SNAP Benefits Alert for November 2025.” City of Boston, 7 Nov. 2025, www.boston.gov/news/snap-benefits-alert-november-2025.

Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. “USDA Releases Annual SNAP Payment Error Rates for FY 2024.” Release No. FNS 0003.25, 27 June 2025, www.fns.usda.gov/newsroom/fns-0003.25.

Gray, Colin, Adam Leive, Elena Prager, Kelsey Pukelis, and Mary Zaki. “Employed in a SNAP? The Impact of Work Requirements on Program Participation and Labor Supply.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, vol. 15, no. 1, Feb. 2023, pp. 306‑341. American Economic Association, doi:10.1257/pol.20200561.

United States. Congress. House. H.R. 1: One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 119th Cong., 1st Sess. (2025–26). Text of H.R. 1, www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text.

Reiley, Laura. “Trump Administration Tightens Work Requirements for SNAP, Which Could Cut Hundreds of Thousands from Food Stamps.” The Washington Post, 4 Dec. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/12/04/trump-administration-tightens-work-requirements-snap-which‑could‑cut‑hundreds‑thousands‑food‑stamps/