Unless there’s a last-minute resolution to the ongoing federal government shutdown, more than 150,000 people in Shelby County will be getting a terrifying trick on the day after Halloween: Namely, the money that they use to buy groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) won’t be available. That means a lot of your neighbors, including tens of thousands of children, elderly, and disabled, will literally go hungry.
In his announcement of the probable halt to SNAP funds for 700,000 Tennesseans, Governor Bill Lee predictably blamed Democrats for the federal shutdown, a claim that flies in the face of the fact that the GOP controls the House, the Senate, and the presidency, not to mention the Supreme Court. The Senate can easily use the filibuster work-around they used in September, and House Speaker Mike Johnson already has the votes to restart the federal government. They’re just waiting for their Orange Overlard to give the word. But yes, Governor Lee, it’s all the fault of those dang Democrats for insisting that people’s healthcare premiums shouldn’t double and that their coverage shouldn’t get cut. The heartless bastards.
Nationwide, the SNAP program, which is controlled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides food assistance to more than 40 million people. Eighty-six percent of SNAP benefits go to households that include a child, elderly person, or person with disabilities, and about 92 percent of SNAP benefits go to households with an income at or below the federal poverty line. The average SNAP household’s monthly gross income is $872 and it receives $258 a month in food benefits. According to a Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) analysis, SNAP benefits for most households are not enough to get them through an entire month without going hungry or sacrificing nutrition quality.
For what it’s worth, the largest demographic group receiving SNAP benefits is Caucasian, so if you think this is strictly an urban problem, you are about to learn something new. Meemaw and ’em out in the sticks are fixin’ to be just as hungry as poor city folks. And while we’re myth-busting … No, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for SNAP benefits.
But beyond this looming human tragedy lurks an equally dire economic crisis. In 2024, $99.8 billion was paid out to impoverished Americans across the country so that they could feed themselves at a minimal level. Here’s the ironic kicker: Those poorest Americans goose the U.S. economy. Almost every cent of that roughly $100 billion dollars gets pumped back into circulation, providing jobs in agriculture, food processing, food transport, food production and packaging, and all other facets of the grocery supply chain.
SNAP benefits get spent. Period. Removing that amount of money from the U.S. economy for any sustained length of time is going to put a lot of people (and the businesses that employ them) out of work. To localize those numbers: SNAP delivers a massive $33-million bump to the Shelby County economy every month. If that money disappears, things are going to get tighter around Memphis in a hurry.
Meanwhile, (do try to keep up) because of this senseless shutdown, air traffic controllers aren’t getting paid and are calling in sick, causing flight delays all over the country. On the other hand, U.S. military jets are not being delayed from routinely bombing small boats in international waters, summarily executing alleged “drug runners” without offering any proof that the dead boaters are who the administration claims they are. And lest we forget, in several American cities, including Memphis, hundreds of masked, unidentified “agents” continue to cruise the streets looking for non-white people to pull over and toss into already critically overcrowded detention systems or to ship off to parts unknown. Oh, yeah, CIA agents were just sent into Venezuela, where we’re this close to bombing “cocaine producing” sites in a sovereign country, a true act of war. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Trump — after promising not to “touch” the East Wing of the White House — casually demolished the whole thing last week, without going through any of the required review protocols or congressional approval.
I’m old enough to remember when the White House was considered federal government property that belonged to the American people instead of a grifting real estate developer. Of course, that was when we actually had a functioning federal government instead of this collection of Halloween clowns in fright masks kicking over all the furniture. Resist this shit, people. Loudly. You may not be hungry now, but if this roughshod demolition of our institutions and our democracy continues, everyone’s turn is coming.
