Tag: food

The Shutdown’s Fallout Spreads Further

The U.S. government shutdown has entered its 39th day, making it the longest funding gap in U.S. history.

The consequences of the standstill are far-reaching, with food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, having already come to a halt at the weekend. While a judge has ordered the Trump administration to release full funding for November food stamps by the end of today, the administration asked an appeals court to block the ruling. Meanwhile, around 1.4 million federal employees are on unpaid leave or working without pay until funding is restored and 10 percent of flights at 40 major U.S. airports have been cut amid air traffic control safety concerns. Trump has responded to these events by calling for Republicans to abolish the Senate filibuster rule that requires the 60-vote majority for legislation to pass.

As Statista’s Anna Fleck details below, a recent wave of surveys by polling company YouGov illustrates how the number of adults who feel they are personally being affected by the shutdown is growing.

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What to Know About Rising SNAP Fraud Claims

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has raised significant fraud concerns, according to the Department of Agriculture, which administers the program. 

In a recent interview with Fox News, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins called the food stamps program “broken and corrupt.”

This assessment came more than a month into the government shutdown that threatened to cut off SNAP benefits entirely. 

Rollins noted “massive fraud” uncovered by her agency and said she believes benefits should be reevaluated. 

Here’s what we know about fraud in the SNAP program. 

How SNAP Is Supposed to Work

Established in 1939, the SNAP program, also known as food stamps, is a federal nutrition assistance program that supplements the grocery budgets of low-income Americans.

It is administered at the federal level by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and at the local level by state agencies that interface with applicants.

SNAP is the largest federal nutrition program in the United States, which served around 41.7 million people and cost the government nearly $100 billion in 2024.

More than 261,000 stores participate in the program, which allows eligible individuals to purchase certain foods with an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card. 

The amount of funds added to the card depends on the household’s financial situation and the number of dependents.

According to the USDA, in 2024, the average benefit per person was approximately $187 per month, and just over 12 percent of Americans received SNAP benefits.

Unlike other nutrition programs, such as Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) or child-targeted nutrition programs, SNAP is not limited to a specific group. 

As of 2023, adults aged 18 to 59 accounted for nearly 42 percent of participants, while children aged 17 and under accounted for about 39 percent. Adults aged 60 and above accounted for 19.5 percent of the program. 

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Supreme Court Issues Emergency Order Temporarily Blocking Full SNAP Payments

The Supreme Court has issued an emergency order blocking SNAP funding amid the ongoing Schumer Shutdown.

Here’s more from the Associated Press:

The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP food aid payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in some states already have received the funds.

A judge had given the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But the administration asked an appeals court to suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund, and instead allow it to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued the ruling, putting a temporary stay on an earlier order issued by a Rhode Island judge that required the Trump administration to disburse the full SNAP payment amount in the month of November.

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Vance Blasts Court Order to Fund SNAP as ‘Absurd’

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday slammed a federal court ruling requiring the Trump administration to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for November, calling the decision “absurd” and an overreach during a government shutdown.

“It’s an absurd ruling because you have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the middle of a Democrat government shutdown,” Vance said during a roundtable with Central Asian leaders at the White House.

Vance said the administration wants to restore full funding once Democrats agree to reopen the government, but argued that the court should not dictate how the administration prioritizes spending during a shutdown.

“What we’d like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government, of course,” he said.

“Then we can fund SNAP, and we can also do a lot of other good things for the American people.

“But in the midst of a shutdown, we can’t have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation,” Vance said.

U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. ruled earlier Thursday that the administration’s plan to issue partial payments failed to comply with his earlier order.

The Justice Department said it will appeal the ruling, leaving the fate of SNAP benefits for millions of Americans uncertain.

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Trump Admin Must Fully Fund Food Stamps for November: Judge

The Trump administration must pay the approximately $9 billion to fully fund food stamps for November, a federal judge ruled on Nov. 6.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must pay states the money by Nov. 7 to distribute to the approximately 42 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants, according to an oral order from Judge John McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

“People have gone without for too long. Not making payments to them for even another day is simply unacceptable,” McConnell said.

USDA officials had declined to fund SNAP amid the government shutdown, arguing that they could not use contingency money or revenue from tariffs. McConnell, in response to a lawsuit, recently said that the administration could either partially fund November benefits with contingency money or fully fund benefits for the month with that money and the tariff revenue.

“If the Government does want to use its discretion to use funds available to make a full payment of SNAP benefits for November 6, then it must expeditiously resolve the administrative and clerical burdens it described in its papers … but under no circumstances shall the partial payments be made later than Wednesday, November 5,” McConnell wrote in a temporary restraining order on Nov. 1.

The government chose to partially fund the November benefits using the contingency fund, which it said contained $4.6 billion. The government stated that it would not use the tariff revenue, or Section 32 funds, because if it were to, then child nutrition programs funded by that revenue might eventually run out of money.

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SNAP Recipients Will Receive More Food Stamps Than Initially Estimated: Filings

Food stamp recipients will receive up to 65 percent of their normal benefits in November, Trump administration officials said in court filings on Nov. 5.

That’s an increase from up to 50 percent that was outlined in previous filings, as well as a memorandum sent to states.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in the Nov. 4 memorandum that it was reducing the maximum benefit households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can receive to 50 percent of the current maximum allotment.

“Since that time, USDA performed further analysis and determined that the maximum allotments need only be reduced by 35%, instead of 50%, to deplete the SNAP contingency fund, and has issued a revised memorandum and allotment tables to State agencies,” Patrick Penn, a USDA deputy undersecretary, told the federal court in Rhode Island.

The revised memo, distributed on Nov. 5, said that maximum benefits will be 65 percent of the typical maximum benefits.

Trump administration lawyers in a separate filing described what happened as an error and said it worked to issue accurate information as soon as the error was discovered.

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Food Banks across the Country are being overwhelmed by a tsunami of hungry people

As grocery prices have risen, demand at food banks throughout the country has surged to very alarming levels. At the end of 2024, I wrote about how demand at food banks had risen to record levels all over the United States.

Unfortunately, demand has continued to rise in 2025, and now the government shutdown has shifted America’s hunger crisis into overdrive. Millions of very hungry people are showing up at food banks looking for something to eat, and resources are being stretched to the limit.

There is no area of the nation that is not being affected by this crisis. For example, it is being reported that food banks in Iowa are experiencing “record demand” during this government shutdown…

Food pantries across Iowa are seeing record demand as families wait for the federal government to restore their food assistance benefits.

So what does “record demand” look like? Well, at one food bank in Iowa they are serving about twice as many people as usual…

While families wait, many are turning to food pantries for help. At WayPoint Resources in Waukee, the line for food stretched out the door Monday.

“We just opened at noon today. And already in that first hour, we saw double the number of people that we normally see,” said Melissa Stimple, the center’s executive director.

We are seeing similar things happen in other parts of the nation too. In southwest Texas, one network of food banks is now serving nearly 170,000 people per week…

Eric Cooper, president and CEO of San Antonio Food Bank, which serves 29 counties in southwest Texas, said the number of families seeking help has increased since it was first announced that there would be a disruption in SNAP benefits should the government shutdown continue.

Cooper said San Antonio Food Bank, which is part of the nonprofit organization Feeding America, typically feeds 105,000 to 120,000 people per week but is now seeing close to 170,000 people per week.

When you suddenly go from serving 120,000 people per week to serving 170,000 people per week, it is going to be very difficult to have enough food for everyone.

Often those at the end of food bank lines end up with nothing, and that is why so many people are lining up early. On Monday, the line at one Bay Area food bank “stretched all the way down the sidewalk”…

On Monday, in a parking lot of Contra Costa College in San Pablo, the line for food stretched all the way down the sidewalk.

“We’re expecting at least 500 families to come out to our distribution,” said program coordinator Geo Dinoso. When he opened the food line, the crowd was a little hard to believe, but for Dinoso, not very surprising.

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Frankenbeef: Liberals Cloned Meat Policy Lets “Freak Meat” Hit Shelves Unlabelled

Health Canada just approved cloned cattle and pork—and their offspring—for Canadian grocery shelves, no labels, no warnings, and no pre-market safety review.

Under a quietly updated policy, cloned meat is no longer considered a “novel food.” That means it bypasses the scientific review once required for new or genetically manipulated foods. There’s no rule requiring companies to tell consumers if their steak came from a cloned animal or its progeny. You’ll never know—unless you ask your farmer directly.

Health Canada insists the change is safe, saying cloned animals and their offspring are “no different” from naturally bred livestock. But Canadians have heard that line before—“safe and effective,” “trust the science,” and all the other slogans used to silence dissent during the COVID years.

So here we go again—a massive, uncontrolled experiment where the only test subjects are the people doing the eating. People should be able to make informed decisions about what goes into their bodies, from medicine to meat. 

They’re calling it innovation. We’re calling it Frankenbeef.

Health Canada’s move mirrors the pre–RFK Jr. era FDA stance.

All of this doesn’t make food cheaper. It makes it weirder.

And it makes us all unwitting versions of Laika, the Soviet space dog—strapped in, eyes wide, blasted into a brave new frontier against our will.

If you want out of this latest “trust the science” experiment, there’s only one way:
Get to know your local farmer personally. Buy from people you trust, and distrust bureaucrats who think your dinner plate should double as a science project.

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Trump To Democrats: SNAP Returns Only After Gov’t Reopens; USDA Warns Grocers On Illegal Food Stamp Discounts

The Trump administration said Monday it plans to partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after judges ruled in November that contingency funds must be used to pay for the benefits.

One major issue with SNAP has been the widespread fraud that erupted under the Biden-Harris regime. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins revealed Sunday that the USDA has purged 700,000 fraudulent recipients so far this year.

On Tuesday morning, President Trump wrote on X that SNAP benefits “increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly “handed” to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!” 

Trump made it clear to radical leftist lawmakers that keeping the government closed – now on its 35th day, a record – by refusing to vote on a clean resolution would mean the SNAP program would only resume once the government reopens.

“It will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” the president emphasized. 

Benny Johnson told Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty several days ago that the Trump administration should force everyone who wants to get back onto SNAP to “reapply with American citizenship.” 

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Starved And Poisoned: The Dual Crisis of Decreasing Trace Minerals And Rising Heavy Metals In Our Soils

The Real World Health Consequences Of Trace Mineral Deficiencies

Research continues to uncover the links between deficiencies of trace minerals and a wide range of chronic illnesses, immune dysfunction, and increased susceptibility to infections.

A 2022 comprehensive review of nutritional deficiencies emphasized that micronutrients are crucial for sustaining life. The inadequacy of any component of the metabolic system directly affects both individuals and societies, manifesting as poorer health, reduced work capacity, decreased educational accomplishment, and lower earning potential.

Scope of the Problem

In both industrialized and developing countries, micronutrient deficiencies (as currently known and measured) affect more than 2 billion people of all ages, particularly pregnant women and children under five. Micronutrient deficiencies have been linked with almost 10% of child deaths.

Iron, folate, zinc, iodine, and vitamin A rank among the most common micronutrient deficiencies worldwide (again, I argue that such a short list is repeatedly emphasized only because we routinely look for and measure their presence or absence).

Studies show that these deficiencies contribute to intellectual impairment, poor growth, perinatal complications, and higher morbidity and mortality. In addition, research associates micronutrient deficiencies with accelerated mitochondrial decay (a big one here) and degenerative diseases of aging..

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