The Millions of Poor Americans at the Mercy of the Shutdown

Tens of millions of Americans depend on the food-stamp program known as SNAP. Without federal assistance, many of them do not know how they will provide for themselves or their families. “The Daily” visits one of the communities most reliant on food aid.


The Trump administration has agreed to restore some of the funding for SNAP, but there’s still uncertainty about how much money will come through, and when.


Tony Romm, who covers economic policy and the Trump administration for The New York Times, discusses the fight over SNAP as the government enters its second month of shutdown.


Guest: Tony Romm (https://www.nytimes.com/by/tony-romm) , a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The New York Times, is based in Washington.


Background reading: 

• The Trump administration will send only partial food stamp payments this month (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/us...) .
• The cuts to SNAP have exposed President Trump’s strategy (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/us...) to use the government shutdown to advance his agenda.

Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images


For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-t...) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 






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