Your Grocery Bill is About to Get More Expensive:

The Hidden Cost of a Government Shutdown

I am so incredibly annoyed and terrified about this government shutdown. EAGER has been crowdfunding groceries for folks who are losing their funding. It's just not sustainable. We have to do something.

You’ve seen the headlines. “Government Shutdown Looming.” “Political Gridlock in Washington.” It’s easy to tune out, to think it’s just political theater that doesn’t affect you.

But this political fight is about to hit your wallet, your local grocery store, and the very fabric of your community by threatening the food on the plates of millions of your neighbors.

This is a deliberate choice with inhuman consequences, and it’s a choice we don't have to make. Using food as a weapon should be a crime.

Photo by Valeria Boltneva

The Immediate Crisis: SNAP on the Chopping Block

At the heart of this is SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps). For 41 million low-income Americans (including children, seniors, and people with disabilities) SNAP is a lifeline. It’s not a luxury; it’s what puts food on the table.

Here’s what happens during a shutdown:

Benefits for the immediate next month are usually safe, thanks to contingency funds. But the system immediately begins to crack. New applications for food assistance freeze. A single mother who just lost her job can’t get help. A senior on a fixed income can’t get their benefits adjusted. The administrative engine that keeps people fed grinds to a halt. If a shutdown lasts more than a few weeks, the money runs out. Benefits for millions could simply stop. EBT cards would not be loaded. The lifeline is cut.

Political Theater vs. Real Solutions

As the federal government fails, some state leaders are making gestures. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, for instance, has directed state agencies to prepare to use existing resources to support Ohioans if SNAP benefits are interrupted.

This is a band-aid on a gaping wound.

State budgets are not designed to replace the billions of dollars SNAP injects into a state's economy. DeWine's plan might offer temporary, limited relief, but it is not a sustainable solution. It will likely mean Insufficient funds that run out quickly. A confusing, patchwork system that many families won't be able to navigate. Diverting money from other critical state services like education and infrastructure.

So, what could Governor DeWine and other state leaders do differently that would actually help?

They could use their immense platform and political power not just to manage, but to end the threat of the crisis entirely. Instead of preparing triage, they could:

Mobilize a bipartisan group of governors to demand that Congress pass a clean funding bill and permanently protect SNAP from shutdowns. A unified front from state leaders carries real weight.

Talk about hunger as the public health crisis it is. This isn't just about budgets; it's about the well-being of citizens. This shifts the narrative from a political dispute to a matter of survival.

While pushing for federal change, pledge to strengthen Ohio's own emergency food assistance programs, making them more robust, accessible, and ready to complement, not replace, the federal system.

True leadership is using your voice to stop the disaster from happening in the first place, not managing a disaster you have the power to help prevent.

Why This Should Scare You, Even If You've Never Needed SNAP

You might think, "This doesn't affect my family." But an economy is a web, and when you pull one thread, the whole structure trembles.

SNAP pumps billions of dollars directly into the economy. Specifically into grocery stores. When that spending suddenly vanishes, local stores will feel it. To compensate for the lost revenue, prices may increase for everyone.

Charities are already stretched thin. They cannot and were never meant to replace a federal nutrition program. When SNAP fails, a tidal wave of need will hit food banks and pantries. They will be forced to ration. Many families, including those who donate, will find their local safety net in tatters.

Less money in grocery stores means fewer hours for workers, lower orders from suppliers, and less business for local farmers. Which leads to less money for their families. Who will then need SNAP, buy it won't be there. A shutdown doesn't just hurt the poor; it hurts the entire economic ecosystem you are a part of.

The Inhumanity of Bargaining with Bread

Legislated cruelty, that's what this is. Politicians are bargaining with the ability of a child to eat dinner. They are using the threat of hunger as a political tactic to force a deal.

We have built a system where a political party can, as a strategy, threaten to take food from the mouths of infants, the elderly, and the working poor to get what they want on an unrelated issue. This is a profound moral failure. It treats human beings as collateral damage.

There is no justification for this. There is no "winning" a debate when the cost is the well-being of millions of your own citizens.

We Do Not Have to Live Like This

This is not an inevitable force of nature. It is a policy choice. Different choices are possible. “We can build anew,” as Matthew Reynolds says.

Other societies have decided that making sure people don't starve is a baseline responsibility, not a political football. We can too.

We can choose to fund SNAP through permanent, mandatory spending, just like Social Security, so it’s never held hostage again.

We can choose to pass clean funding bills that keep the government open without last-minute, life-or-death demands.

We can choose to build a society where a person’s survival is not up for debate.

This is about justice and accepting that our fates are linked. If we aren't caring for each other, what are we even doing?

What You Can Do:

Call Your Representatives. Don’t be polite. Tell them that holding food assistance hostage is unacceptable and you will remember it at the polls.

Talk About It. Share this with friends and family. The political class relies on our apathy.

Support Your Local Food Bank, but demand they shouldn't have to do this alone. Their existence is a testament to community, but their over-reliance is a testament to a broken system.

Support folks trying to fill in the gap.

We can have political disagreements without resorting to human sacrifice. Let's be even more clear.This isn't a difference in political opinion. This is a difference in morality. The shutdown isn't just a political crisis; it's a test of our nation's character. Let's demand we pass it.