Clarification, October 31, 2025 8:19 pm: This article has been updated.
Elected officials are warning of hunger as the ongoing government shutdown threatens federal food aid, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP beneficiaries could see delays beginning Sat., Nov. 1, without federal action.
Today, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio stopped at the headquarters of 412 Food Rescue in Millvale, his home district, to assist with meal preparation. While giving a brief statement to the media, he said 75,000 of his Pa.-17 constituents and 2 million Pennsylvanians depended on the SNAP program and blamed the shutdown on Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration. A federal judge in Rhode Island issued an order later Friday requiring the administration to pay SNAP benefits during the shutdown.
“The administration should be using the emergency funding that’s there to make sure those benefits are paid out,” Deluzio said. He was among 212 Representatives to sign onto a recent letter urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to dip into reserve funding that could support a two-thirds payout of November benefits.
Without that funding, Deluzio said he fears the 42 million Americans who use SNAP could go hungry.
“Look, this is the richest country in the history of planet Earth. Folks who are working their butts off should not be worried about starving kids,” Deluzio said. “I know we’re in a government shutdown that I think is foolish, and I want us to get out of it if there’s a bipartisan path out of this, but seeing SNAP benefits not go out, that’s a choice the administration is making.”
The 412 Food Rescue headquarters smelled of cumin and fresh coffee, as a few remote workers sipped hot drinks. Deluzio helped organization staff fill trays — today’s meal was enchiladas — and cut pumpkins for soup. 412 Food Rescue CEO Alyssa Cholodofsky said she was heartened by the support they have received.
“People are nervous about losing their benefits starting tomorrow, and our community partners are getting ready to meet the demand,” Cholodofsky said, noting that 412 Food Rescue had received donations from restaurants, grocers( including some unsold items as economic belts tighten and prices go up), and even the city’s sports teams. “Food is not just a basic need. It’s a basic right, and we don’t want to see anyone going hungry.”
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee likewise met with food bank staff in her Pa.-12 district earlier in the week. She addressed SNAP losses caused by both the government shutdown and Trump’s signing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, which eliminated $186 million from the program.
“For years, food banks have struggled to keep up with rising demand. Instead of strengthening the programs that help feed our communities, the Trump administration has spent the last several months dismantling them,” Lee said in a release. She also called for Rollins to use SNAP contingency reserve funding to support November payments. Elsewhere, Pa. Sen. Wayne Fontana announced a food drive at his Kennedy Twp. office.
Deluzio also noted Pa. Gov Josh Shapiro’s lawsuit against the Trump administration as another mechanism to apply pressure, but urged Rollins and Congressional Republicans to act now.
“With the threat of folks missing out on SNAP benefits starting tomorrow, the need for food and the risk of hunger in our region is going to be substantial,” he said. “I think that’s what the law not only permits, but requires — spending this money to make sure that SNAP benefits go out.”
This article appears in Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2025.
