The most recent total government shutdown, beginning on October 1st, 2025, was the longest in U.S. history, lasting forty-three days and seconded by the thirty-four-day shutdown during the first Trump Administration.^[1] When the federal government shuts down, even a month-long lapse can put more than 40 million Americans at risk of losing access to essential food assistance, wages, and healthcare subsidies that are vital to their daily survival.

Most federal agencies are funded through annual appropriations bills that Congress must pass and the President must sign before the new fiscal year.^[2] When Congress fails to authorize spending in time, funding lapses, and the government shuts down, either partially or entirely. This entails some agencies closing their doors while others attempt to operate on contingency plans with limited authority to continue “essential” services.^[3]

In the case of the most recent shutdown, negotiations stalled as Democrats insisted on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies as part of any funding deal while Republicans refused to negotiate until after the government reopened.^[4] This stalemate had immediate effects on federal safety net programs, particularly the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which became a focal point of public concern during the shutdown.

SNAP serves over 40 million people nationwide, and the demographics of its recipients reflect longstanding structural inequalities.^[5] Although white Americans make up the largest share of beneficiaries in absolute terms, Black, Latino, and Indigenous households rely on SNAP at disproportionately higher rates relative to their population size. ^[6] These disparities are tied to persistent gaps in income, employment stability, and wealth accumulation.^[7] As a result, funding disruptions to SNAP during the shutdown imposed heightened harm on communities already facing elevated levels of food insecurity.

As millions of Americans faced significant peril, the executive branch sought to distance itself from responsibility for the shutdown. President Trump publicly blamed congressional Democrats for the funding lapse and minimized his own role in prolonging negotiations, despite his authority to sign or veto appropriations legislation.^[8] Trump’s statements obscured the executive’s role as an active participant in the shutdown while millions of beneficiaries faced uncertainty and delayed assistance.

The shutdown’s effects extended beyond SNAP recipients to federal workers. Employees deemed “essential” were required to continue working without pay, while furloughed workers were barred from collecting unemployment benefits.^[9]  These disruptions disproportionately affected lower-wage federal employees, who also could not depend on the same safety net programs destabilized by the shutdown.^[10] The result was a compounding loss of income and security within economically vulnerable households.

Although the government reopened on November 12th, SNAP recipients continued to experience delayed benefits, highlighting that shutdowns do not simply pause government operations.^[11] Rather, they sever access to life-sustaining wages and assistance, shifting the costs of political deadlock onto those least able to absorb them.

Preventing such harm requires structural safeguards that ensure continuity of core safety net programs when appropriations lapse. Without them, the constitutional system permits predictable and disproportionate injury to low-income communities whenever political negotiations fail. The recently introduced Keep SNAP Funded Act of 2025 offers a realistic model for such safeguards by guaranteeing continued SNAP operations during government shutdowns, even when contingency funds become depleted.

 

^[1] USAFacts Team, Everything You Need to Know About a Government Shutdown (Nov. 13, 2025), https://usafacts.org/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-about-a-government-shutdown/.

^[2] As the signature deadline approaches, these bills are often bundled together into an“omnibus bill” to efficiently pass them. See Caitlin Yilek, What Is a Government Shutdown? Here’s What Happens When Funding Runs Out, CBS News (Oct. 31, 2025), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown-2025-what-happens/.

^[3]Id.; See also Sanya Bahal, Andrew Lautz, Caleb Quakenbush & Rachel Snyderman, What Happens if the Government Shuts Down?, Bipartisan Policy Ctr. (Sept. 3, 2025), https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/what-happens-if-the-government-shuts-down/ (explaining what happens during federal government shutdowns, including which agencies and services continue operating and how partial shutdowns differ from full shutdowns).

^[4] Alan Jaffe & Lori Robertson, Lawmakers’ Health Care, Government Shutdown Claims, FactCheck.org (Oct. 1, 2025), https://www.factcheck.org/2025/10/lawmakers-health-care-government-shutdown-claims (“Democrats maintained that legislation to continue funding the federal government should include an extension of the more generous ACA subsidies… Republicans rejected that proposal, saying that the enhanced ACA subsidies could be discussed later, after a bill to extend current funding levels was passed.” Republicans argued the enhanced subsidies “could be discussed later, after a bill to extend current funding levels was passed”); Mary Clare Jalonick, Republicans Promised Health Care Negotiations After the Shutdown, but Democrats Are Wary, ABC News (Nov. 13, 2025), https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/republicans-promised-health-care-negotiations-after-shutdown-democrats-127498676 (stating “now that the government shutdown is over, House and Senate Republicans say they will negotiate with Democrats on whether to extend COVID-era tax credits that help tens of millions of Americans afford their health care premiums,” and that Democrats had kept the government closed “demanding that Republicans negotiate with them on an extension” during the shutdown”).

^[5] See David W. Chen, 42 Million People Are Enrolled in SNAP. Who Are They? (Nov.12 2025), https://www.sfexaminer.com/42-million-people-are-enrolled-in-snap-who-are-they/article_69a71fca-3bdf-5552-a0ae-09859d1c4450.html; See also Megan Lebowitz and Maggie Rhoads, As Millions of Americans Prepare to Lose SNAP Benefits, Some States Are Moving to Bridge the Gap (Oct. 28, 2025), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ politics-news/millions-americans-prepare-lose-snap-benefits-states-are-moving-bridge-rcna239159.

^[6] See Food Research & Action Ctr., USDA Food Security Report Highlights Startling Hunger Crisis in America (Sept. 4, 2024) https://frac.org/news/usdafoodsecurityreportsept2024 (showing that food insecurity rates are much higher for Black and Latino households and for single-parent households than for the population as a whole. In 2023, 34.7% of single-mother households were food insecure, and food insecurity rates for Black (23.3%) and Latinx (21.9%) households were more than double the rate for white non-Latinx households (9.9%)).

^[7] The government shutdown has exacerbated the harm from the mass layoffs already initiated through executive orders put in place by the second Trump administration, leaving Black women and people of color overall particularly vulnerable as jobs created under public sector agencies have historically operated as a reliable means to middle class stability for not only Black women but women and people of color in general. See National Women’s Law Center, New Report Exposes Trump Federal Government Cuts Target Working Women and People of Color (May 6, 2025), https://nwlc.org/press-release/new-report-exposes-trump-federal-government-cuts-target-working- women-and- people-of-color/. A May 2025 report by the National Women’s Law Center finds that women and people of color make up the majority of federal workers in the departments targeted by the administration. Id.; See also, Sarah Javaid, Attacks on the Federal Workforce Target Women and People of Color (Nat’l Women’s Law Ctr. May 2025), https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Federal-Workforce-FS-5.5.25v2.pdf. Black women—only 6% of the overall workforce but 12% of federal employees—have been especially hard hit, with roughly 300,000 pushed out of work in just two months. Id.; See also,  Brianna Holt, Black Women Are Being Hit Hard by the Trump Layoffs and Firings: ‘It Chips Away at Morale and Self-Worth’, The Guardian (Sept. 20, 2025), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/20/black-women-trump-federal-layoffs.

^[8] Democrats Betray Americans with Government Shutdown, The White House (Oct. 1, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/10/democrats-betray-americans-with-government-shutdown/; See also Norah O’Donnell et al., Trump says government shutdown ends when Democrats give in: “If They Don’t Vote, That’s Their Problem” (Nov. 3, 2025), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-government-shutdown-democrats- fault-60-minutes/.

^[9]  Nat’l Conf. of State Legislatures, Federal Government Shutdown: What It Means for States and Programs (Nov. 13, 2025), https://www.ncsl.org/in-dc/federal-government-shutdown-what-it-means-for-states-and-programs.

^[10] The government shutdown has exacerbated the harm from the mass layoffs already initiated through executive orders put in place by the second Trump administration, leaving Black women and people of color overall particularly vulnerable as jobs created under public sector agencies have historically operated as a reliable means to middle class stability for not only Black women but women and people of color in general. See National Women’s Law Center, New Report Exposes Trump Federal Government Cuts Target Working Women and People of Color (May 6, 2025), https://nwlc.org/press-release/new-report-exposes-trump-federal-government-cuts-target-working- women-and- people-of-color/. A May 2025 report by the National Women’s Law Center finds that women and people of color make up the majority of federal workers in the departments targeted by the administration. Id.; See also, Sarah Javaid, Attacks on the Federal Workforce Target Women and People of Color (Nat’l Women’s Law Ctr. May 2025), https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Federal-Workforce-FS-5.5.25v2.pdf. Black women—only 6% of the overall workforce but 12% of federal employees—have been especially hard hit, with roughly 300,000 pushed out of work in just two months. Id.; See also,  Brianna Holt, Black Women Are Being Hit Hard by the Trump Layoffs and Firings: ‘It Chips Away at Morale and Self-Worth’, The Guardian (Sept. 20, 2025), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/20/black-women-trump-federal-layoffs.

^[11] See Mary Kekatos, The Government Shutdown Has Ended. What This Could Mean for the Future of the ACA, ABC News (Nov. 14, 2025), https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/government-shutdown-ended-future-aca/story?id=127503888 (explaining the future implications of the ACA in relation to the ending of the government shutdown without coming to an agreement on subsidiaries).