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To: Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture

Stop Playing Politics With Food Assistance Programs

USDA must use the SNAP contingency fund to keep food assistance programs funded during the government shutdown as is required by law and has been done in every other government shutdown in modern history.

Why is this important?

Republicans in Congress are holding food assistance for 42 million Americans hostage to force through Donald Trump’s budget — a plan that would raise healthcare premiums for millions of working families while handing out new tax cuts for billionaires. 

USDA has used a contingency fund to make sure no one went hungry, and food assistance has never been stopped during a shutdown.

 But now, the Trump administration is refusing to release funding for food assistance programs like SNAP.

USDA under Trump is deliberately refusing to deploy the $5 billion SNAP contingency fund — a decision meant to pressure Democrats into passing the Republican budget that favors the billionaires at the expense of everyone else. 

This isn’t just political brinkmanship. It’s cruelty--especially for Rural America, who use SNAP at a higher rate than Americans in larger cities.

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Updates

2025-10-27 19:50:22 -0400

1,000 signatures reached

2025-10-27 17:22:20 -0400

500 signatures reached

2025-10-27 16:44:02 -0400

100 signatures reached

2025-10-27 16:41:41 -0400

50 signatures reached

2025-10-27 16:39:24 -0400

25 signatures reached

2025-10-27 16:37:02 -0400

10 signatures reached