Americans brace for food stamps to run out: ‘The greatest hunger catastrophe since the Great Depression’

Nearly 42 million people in danger as federal government shutdown continues and Snap funding to end 1 November

Two decades ago, Sara Carlson, then a mother of three, was newly single because of a traumatic event, and the US's food stamp program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), helped her feed her children with free food supplies.

I wouldn't have been able to afford to live," said Carlson, 45, who lives in Rochester, Minnesota, and now works as an operations manager for a wealth-management firm and serves on the board of Channel One Regional Food Bank, which works to increase food access.

This article was amended on 26 October 2025 to correct that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated $187bn in Snap funding through 2034, not through 2024 as an earlier version said