Schumer Shutdown Presents an Opportunity for SNAP and America’s Spirit of Charity

Democrats are warning that thousands of children may go hungry if Republicans don’t cave in to Democrats’ demands and agree to fund COVID-era Obamacare subsidies for wealthier Americans. Meanwhile, Republicans have filed a bill just to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, better known as food stamps, during the shutdown.

If the impasse continues, I’d humbly suggest that private charities and policy nonprofits team up to replace the program with a privately-funded alternative that also helps recipients go from dependency to self-sufficiency.

Private charities are already starting this process, but conservatives should band together to transform a private effort into a policy-shifting initiative.

Charities Respond to SNAP Lapse

SNAP funding will lapse on Nov. 1, leaving millions without benefits they have grown to rely on.

Catholic Charities USA launched an emergency fundraising effort to supply food to Catholic Charities across the country to meet this need.

Meal delivery company DoorDash launched a program to deliver one million meals for free, supporting more than 300 Project DASH food bank partners next month. DoorDash will also waive delivery and service fees for an estimated 300,000 grocery orders for SNAP recipients at various supermarkets, including Giant Foods and Wegmans.

These programs will not fully replace SNAP, which cost about $100 billion in fiscal year 2024 and served an average of 41.7 million participants each month, but they represent Americans’ independent spirit of private charity stepping in the breach.

My SNAP Proposal

I’d suggest a coordinated effort to meet existing needs and provide a roadmap away from government dependency.

This tragic government shutdown may present conservatives with an opportunity to develop a policy reform that makes SNAP more effective by incentivizing self-sufficiency.

The food stamps program has long fostered dependence on government programs. Back in 2001, Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Robert Rector noted that “the overwhelming majority of Food Stamp spending is received by individuals who have been or will be participants in the program for multiple years or even decades.”

The program ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic, rising as labor force participation declined. SNAP serves 4.3 million more people than it did before the pandemic.

Congress can and should amend the program, strengthening work requirements and tightening eligibility, to make sure that the truly needy receive the program and to incentivize self-sufficiency.

Yet, if private charities and policy nonprofits team up to meet the unmet needs during this government shutdown, they may find an unprecedented opportunity to replace a bloated federal dependency program with a smart privately-funded roadmap to self-sufficiency.

Americans don’t want 41 million people to go hungry, but we also don’t want 41 million people to become perpetually dependent on the federal government for food assistance.

The SNAP-merican Dream

I dream of an America where every able-bodied potential worker can find fulfilling work and make enough money to not only meet personal and family needs, but have enough left over to generously contribute to meeting the needs of others, as well.

Thankfully, I already live in an America where generous people contributed so that nonprofits have $4.1 trillion in revenue. This massive charitable sector should be able to address a problem like food stamps.

Our goal should not be to foster dependence on government, but to foster productivity that allows for not just abundance and fulfillment, but generous giving.

I’m calling on private charities—and particularly charities like Samaritan’s Purse that are motivated by the Christian gospel, as I am—to step into the breach here.

I’m also calling on think tanks like The Heritage Foundation, the Reason Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, and others to pool resources with these charities and develop a program that will meet the unmet needs of SNAP and go further than the current program already does.

My dream is that SNAP disappears, not because Americans are stingy, but because America outgrows the need for it.

Let’s develop a privately-funded roadmap away from government assistance and toward a more productive and generous America.

Then the Schumer Shutdown won’t just be an ugly footnote in our history, but a moment where Americans proved we don’t need the dole to feed the hungry.

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