Fight, Don’t Starve! Government shutdown kicks 2 million PA residents off SNAP

The ongoing federal government shutdown is causing devastating results for working people in this country. As the shutdown surpasses the one-month mark, nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians and tens of millions of Americans in other states are at risk of losing their SNAP benefits starting November 1. While Republicans typically force a shutdown in an effort to gut social spending, this time it was the Democrats who forced the shutdown, citing Republicans’ refusal to reinstate Medicaid spending that was slashed with the passage of the Big Billionaire Bill.

In March, when the federal government was faced with the question of temporarily extending funding or facing a shutdown to stop Elon Musk’s “DOGE” cuts, top Democrat Chuck Schumer caved without any substantial pushback against the Trump administration. Now, nearly seven months later, Medicaid is a line in the sand for Democrats as they demonstrate their willingness to let millions of Americans suffer. At the same time, they play political chicken with their colleagues across the aisle – a game they are sure to lose, for which the American people will pay the price.

It is notable that when the government enters a shutdown, it’s never agencies like ICE or the newly renamed Department of War that see disruptions in their funding. A month into the shutdown, and we haven’t seen a decrease in the number of masked agents conducting raids and kidnappings in our communities; the massive arsenal of US military weapons is still being used to bomb Venezuelan fishing boats for no apparent reason; and yet, the last line of defense to ensure the poorest Americans are still able to feed their families is being eroded. In one of the richest countries in the world, this doesn’t add up.

The first items on the chopping block during a government shutdown are a matter of political choice. Every time, it is our social safety net that is at risk. But it’s not just the shutdown that is bringing SNAP benefits to a halt for millions of Pennsylvanians. While it has expedited the process, plans were already in place to restrict the number of PA residents who are eligible for SNAP.

For decades, Philadelphia was exempt from certain work requirements attached to SNAP benefits. As of September 1, 2025, that changed. Further restrictions were scheduled for November 1, including parents with children under the age of 14 and “able-bodied adults” ages 18-64. This is to say that when the shutdown is over and benefits are restored, thousands of people will still be ineligible for the benefits they were receiving.

While this situation is striking fear in many Americans, it is not entirely unprecedented, and we cannot afford to despair. We must look to our history and learn from it in order to determine our future. If we look back to the Great Depression, the unemployment rate was nearly 25% by 1933. Three years prior, unemployment insurance didn’t exist in this country. However, a national movement to demand relief for the masses of unemployed workers was ignited after 100,000 people demonstrated in the streets of New York with the slogan “Fight, Don’t Starve!” They eventually won, meaning we would not have unemployment benefits today if it were not for the efforts of organized people in 1930.

Forty years later, it was the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program that shamed the government into providing basic assistance to people in need by shining a light on the issue of child hunger in America. We would not have gotten the expansion of food stamps in this country without the organization and leadership of regular people who recognized the weight of their collective power.

We cannot view ourselves as separate from this history. We just witnessed 7 million people across the country demonstrate under the banner of ‘No Kings Day’ last month, and we must let this moment of mass frustration be a launching point for a movement around our demands. One of the most resonant messages from the No Kings Day protests was the call for a general strike.

Even Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said during his speech, “If my ancestors, as slaves, can lead the greatest general strike in the history of this country, taking it to the ultra-rich and big corporations, we can do it too!” Johnson’s speech was met with raucous applause from the crowd of hundreds of thousands.

If we take Johnson’s call seriously, it would mean millions of Americans withholding their labor on the same terms – that we refuse to undo the progress of our ancestors, and we will not continue to let a system run by the ultra-rich and the far-right actively tear our communities apart.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of the newspaper’s owners, management, or staff.