Increasing hunger is a policy choice. The Big Ugly Bill already imposed the largest SNAP cut in the program’s history, and now, with the shutdown, millions more are at risk of losing access to the nutrition program when funding is depleted in two weeks.
The administration can―and must―take steps to protect SNAP benefits. SNAP running out of money would be catastrophic. Nearly 1 in 8 people, including 16 million children and 8 million people with disabilities, would go without the food assistance they need.
Two-thirds of the money needed to partially fund another month is in SNAP’s contingency fund, which must be used when regular funding falls short. The contingency fund has $6 billion, which is still short of the $8 billion needed to fully fund SNAP recipients per month. The administration can use other measures to ensure families get full November benefits―and they must act ASAP to give states guidance and enough time to get families the help they need to put food on the table.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration, via the United States Department of Agriculture, moved $300 million to WIC, the nutrition program that serves women, infants, and children. It’s time for the administration to do the same for SNAP, by tapping funds that are allowed by law to be used for this purpose.
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CHN urges Congress to vote no on any appropriations legislation, including a short-term CR, that does not include enforceable instructions on how congressionally approved funding must be spent in any spending package, along with extending expiring funding to stop efforts to “run out the clock”, and address health costs including extending the enhanced ACA Premium Tax Credit before families get notices about skyrocketing health increases before November 1.
The Coalition on Human Needs is small, but the human needs community is large. We are facing unprecedented attacks on our democratic rights to advocate to meet the needs of all of our people.
WIC funding cuts are likely to drive up the cost of health care and ultimately increase federal government spending. A robust WIC program can help keep more than 200,000 people out of poverty in a single year.
Time limits are a cut to SNAP and ignore the structural and personal barriers that many SNAP recipients face — including unstable job markets, part-time work with insufficient hours, unpaid caregiving, and jobs that do not provide documentation needed to prove work activity
Access to health insurance and health care has never been a right in this country. There has always been a division between those that are considered “worthy” and those that are not, mostly along wealth and racial line.
Many think of Medicaid as the only program that pays for critical assisted living and memory care for aging people. But it also pays for similar services for medically complex children.
New Census Bureau’s poverty and health data the continue to show the impact of policy decisions — and losses faced by children and adults alike when the help that makes a crucial difference in their lives is torn away.
The Trump anti-immigrant tactics have shifted since the first term, but its disregard for law and for the needs of children continues.
David Elliot, a staff member of the Coalition on Human Needs since 2016, passed away this week. He had struggled with cancer in a long and difficult illness.
CHN encourages organizations and individuals to submit feedback on USDA’s proposed plan by emailing reorganization@usda.gov by Tuesday, August 26, 2025.
Editor’s note: The article was written by Lily Klam and published by First Focus – a member of CHN, on July 1, 2025. The Educational Choice for Children Act, which has been wrapped into reconciliation proposals, would create a federal private school voucher program. School vouchers harm public schools, allow schools…
Editor’s note: Ta’Kyla Bates is a Henry A. Wallace Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org. What do Louisiana, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Alabama have in common? For one thing, they’re red states. For another, they’re poor states. Each has among the top 10 highest…