91% of U.S. veterans concerned about food assistance amid shutdown

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

About 91% of veterans said they were concerned about losing access to food assistance because of the federal government shutdown, with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits set to run dry Nov. 1, according to a poll from Mission Roll Call.

“It’s unfortunate that every time Washington does this, veterans and service members are made collateral damage in these political fights,” Mission Roll Call CEO Jim Whaley, a 20-year Army veteran, told The Center Square. “Political brinksmanship here that is affecting a lot of our patriots, those who are serving currently, and those who have served in the past, and it’s unacceptable.”

SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is a federal program that provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement grocery budgets. The U.S. Department of Agriculture won’t issue SNAP benefits until the government reopens. The agency said in a partisan message on its website that “the well has run dry.” However, two federal judges on Friday ordered the Trump administration to continue funding SNAP.

About 42 million people receive SNAP benefits, including veterans and active-duty service members. Some 1.2 million veterans live in households that participate in SNAP, according to a 2025 report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

It’s not clear how service members use SNAP, but past estimates provide some indications. A Department of Defense report from 2020, said the number was low. That report estimated the number of troops getting SNAP benefits ranged between 880 and 4,620, or less than 0.5% of the roughly 1.1 million U.S.-based service members. However, the USDA’s Economic Research Service found 25.3% of the military population reported experiencing food insecurity from 2018 to 2020. That figure was 10.1% in the demographically equivalent civilian adult population.

The latest survey from Mission Roll Call, a nonprofit veterans’ advocacy group, found that veterans and their families are worried.

Approximately 59% of those surveyed reported being affected by the shutdown. And 90% said veterans should continue to get SNAP benefits during the shutdown. Slightly more than half of those surveyed said they or a veteran they knew had relied on SNAP in the past. Overall, 91% said they were “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about veterans losing access to food assistance because of the shutdown.

“Let’s just step back for a second and understand the backdrop of all of this is that we still have 30,000-plus veterans homeless on any given night. You’re still losing 17 to 20 veterans every day to suicide, and now you have this situation,” Whaley told The Center Square. “I hope that those people who are in the position to make decisions at the highest level understand the impact it has at the lowest level.”

President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have managed so far to keep paychecks coming for the U.S. military members. However, that funding could run out. During past shutdowns, U.S. troops have gone without paychecks.

Nearly 37,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees have been furloughed or are working without pay as the prolonged government shutdown continues and some VA services go dark. VA Secretary Doug Collins on Thursday called for an end to the shutdown.

Republicans and Democrats have blamed each other for the shutdown, which is set to enter a second month with both parties locked in a stalemate over funding. Trump said Thursday that Senate Republicans should end the filibuster to reopen the government.

Each day the federal government remains closed will cost U.S. taxpayers about $400 million just in salary for about 750,000 furloughed federal workers.