The Well Has Run Dry: How Trump and the GOP Are Starving SNAP While Rewarding Billionaires

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture bluntly warned, “Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01,” it sounded like the inevitable consequence of a government shutdown. But that line hides a deeper truth: the well didn’t dry up naturally—it was drained on purpose.

On November 1, millions of families who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were set to lose their food benefits. Parents who plan meals down to the dollar faced empty grocery carts, while a federal judge scrambled to block the administration from suspending aid, citing the “terror” it had caused families.

This cruelty was anything but accidental. It was built brick by brick into Republican policy. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill passed earlier this year, lauded by GOP lawmakers as fiscal responsibility, is in reality a Trojan horse designed to quietly sabotage one of America’s most effective anti-poverty programs.

For decades, the USDA adjusted the Thrifty Food Plan—the formula that determines SNAP benefits—to reflect actual food costs. In 2021, after years of stagnation, the USDA raised benefits by $1.40 per person per day, helping families keep pace with rising grocery prices. Trump and the GOP’s new law halted that progress. It now restricts USDA updates to once every five years and demands that any future changes be cost-neutral. In plain terms: no more benefit increases, even as inflation drives grocery bills sky-high. SNAP recipients’ purchasing power will erode year after year, institutionalizing hunger.

The law’s cruelty doesn’t end there. Beginning in 2027, the federal government will slash its share of SNAP administrative costs from 50% to 25%, forcing states to pick up the rest. Ten states, including California, New York, and North Carolina, rely on counties to manage SNAP, serving roughly one-third of all participants. In Alabama, nearly one in seven residents depends on SNAP. Local budgets will buckle, offices will be overwhelmed, and families will lose benefits—not because they don’t qualify, but because the system collapses under its own weight.

Immigrant families face even sharper pain. The Big Beautiful Bill sharply restricts SNAP eligibility for immigrants—a move that saves little money but sends a clear political message: hunger is acceptable if it happens to the “right” people.

When the USDA says, “the well has run dry,” it’s not just an accounting statement—it’s a moral one. Republicans have spent years dismantling the mechanisms that keep Americans fed. Now, when the system predictably fails, they shrug and call it unfortunate. The government shutdown didn’t cause this SNAP crisis—it merely revealed the dry kindling underneath.

SNAP is not a luxury. It’s a promise that in the richest nation on Earth, no one should go hungry. It’s simple, efficient, and life-saving—but only if lawmakers allow it to work. Trump and Republicans call their bill “beautiful.” There is nothing beautiful about forcing parents to choose between feeding their kids and paying rent. There is nothing fiscally responsible about starving the system until it collapses.

For millions of families, the Trump administration has told the nation: the well has run dry. But for ballrooms, billionaires, and the corporations they control, the spigot of tax breaks and loopholes flows endlessly, keeping their wealth skyrocketing.

The good news? Wells can be refilled. But first, voters must decide that cruelty disguised as fiscal policy is no longer acceptable. SNAP works. Lawmakers just have to stop standing in its way.