The food stamp program was begun in 1929 as a way to help poverty-stricken families maintain levels of nutrition that they could not afford without assistance.
This program has been modified several times during its 39-year history, including a name change to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The name change was done to reflect modernization to electronics and elimination of the paper stamps. It was also done to overcome the stigma that could be associated with the stamps. The modern credit card format is much more discrete.
The cost of the SNAP has increased steadily during its history and is now a major component of federal spending.
As of today, November 1, the SNAP program has run out of funds, which threatens the ability of needy families to get nutrition assistance from the federal government. That assistance may be forthcoming, but there are three problems with it.
First, we have the opinion of the Department of Agriculture that emergency funds may not be used to fund SNAP. That issue may be resolved because President Trump has indicated that he will abide by the courts’ decision on the matter. In a way, that has already happened because two federal judges in separate states have ruled that the Administration must fund SNAP using emergency funds. They were John J. McConnell of Rhode Island and Indira Talwani of Massachusetts.
Second, if emergency funds are used, they will not be enough for funding in full. It is estimated that those funds will provide only about 60% of what is needed.
Third, there is a time lag from when the funds are approved to when they reach the recipients. It seems that even under the best of circumstances SNAP users may experience some shortages.
Government shutdowns are not rare. Since 1976 there have been eleven shutdowns, five of which have been characterized as key historical because of their impact.
Key Historical Shutdowns
| Year(s) | Duration | Cause |
| 1980 | 8-17 days | Political disputes over budget issues |
| 1995-1996 | 21 days | Dispute over spending cuts |
| 2013 | 16 days | Disagreement over the Affordable Care Act |
| 2018-2019 | 35 days | Border wall funding dispute |
| 2025 | Ongoing since Oct 1 | Failure to pass 2026 funding legislation |
Source: Google Search
The longest event lasted 35 days. As of the time of this writing, the current shutdown is on its 32nd day and could surpass the record of 35 days.
There have been reports of progress being made toward a solution, but nothing concrete yet.
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