The shutdown will halt about $8 billion a month in federal food assistance. Walmart captures 24% of all SNAP shopper spending, according to Numerator’s 2025 SNAP Evolution report—triple Kroger’s share and far ahead of Costco, Amazon and Sam’s Club.
Walmart was the first retailer to accept SNAP online in all 50 states in 2023 and launched the Walmart+ Assist program, which offers half-price memberships for those receiving aid.
“If SNAP payments stop, spending by the lowest income groups will fall,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of data and analytics firm GlobalData. “Walmart gets a plurality of the spending, so it will be hit the hardest.”
This was somewhat epiphanic for me.
I already recognized companies such as Walmart were subsidizing pay through social programs such as SNAP and essential funneling/laundering tax payer money to their executives.
This headline made me further realize they’re not only making taxpayers subsidize wages, they’ve also effectively turned the USD into a form of company scrip. While that scrip can be spent at some other locations I bet a large percent of funneled right back to e.g. Walmart itself. If you already work at Walmart it makes spending your SNAP benefit there easier.
I dunno why it says “If SNAP goes dark” becuase it already did go dark. It’s already been a week woth no payments and it looks like nothing is going to change that. SNAP has already “gone dark”.
judges are forcing the USDA to pay snap this month… latest ruling was by today.
it’s not dark yetJudge says something.
Trump admin says “no lol”
naive oversimplification
Is it? What is the more nuanced view?
Trump administration: “Good! Maybe some of those poors will die and save us the trouble of removing their tents!” [roflol]
the USDA is operated by thousands of people, the head is appointed by trump.
if the head of the usda is facing jail for contempt vs maybe getting fired, he’ll fund snap.
and that’s exactly what happened today, ebt was funded. trump is appealing but the money is there.
my state funded it and was waiting for a commitment by the usda, apparently they got it.
trump and his administration have complied with other court orders, they’ve defied some… but they eventually give in when appeals run out.
a big part of the shutdown is that they’ve slipped in legislation to strip judges of their powers to enforce their orders… such as nationwide injunctions, holding people in contempt, and sending federal marshals out to arrest people in contempt of court… they currently still have those powers.
it’s quite complicated.Was it the head of the USDA withholding funds? I was under the impression that the administration said there were no funds, and then there was no way to release the funds, and then that it would be too complex to do so with any expediency.
Why are they appealing the ruling, do you think?
The head of the USDA does what Trump says or she gets fired… but she’s still the one with direct control.
The USDA already has a contingency fund, for this very sort of thing. They were refusing to fund SNAP until a judge forced them too…. they had this money set aside before the government shutdown, and December is still uncertain.
Why they’re appealing it is, id assume, what they’ve been saying about hating all social safety net type programs, and really it’s about rich people paying taxes….
they’re vindictive enough to use any opportunity to fuck with any program as much as they can get away with…
Is it? SNAP hasn’t been paid to anyone yet.
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The only naive oversimplification here is believing that when the USDA is ordered to do something by a judge that means Trump automatically does it.
Snap is dark. There was a court order to turn on the lights. Those lights have not turned on yet. Don’t be pedantic if you can’t bring the receipts.
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It’s not. This has literally been government policy for 2025.
they have defied and appealed rulings, some have been upheld and complied with….
what you’re talking about is what they want to do and one reason why the government is shut down right now.
Sounds pretty accurate to me.
Don’t count your chickens until they hatch. Or in this case, don’t count your SNAP until it’s actually in your pocket.
it’s in my pocket right now. it was fully funded today.
I’m truly shocked that they actually paid. That’s some good news. I’m glad the people in need are getting when we owe them.
My mothers has not been paid nor is pending. Some states used state funding to pay out, most have not.
Yeah I’m always saddened to see anecdotal “it works for me” or “it doesn’t work for me” comments about something like this, where it’s super complex and until we know the rules are in place and enforced, we should assume it is not working for those who need it.
me too… next month is still scary
Awesome I’m happy for you and everybody else who needs it
A piece of paper is worthless. Can’t buy anything with that.
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Thank you. Didn’t make the news around here.
you’re welcome… not all states have paid out yet but some already have:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/07/usda-tells-states-snap-benefits-shutdown-00642403Would have expected malicious inaction.
Oh yes this administration has such respect.
read the news, the usda paid up today
“it’s not dark yet”
Tell that to the people without food.
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SCOTUS already overturned it
no they didn’tIt’s literally all over the news: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-administration-asks-appeals-court-promptly-halt-ruling/story?id=127294307
yep, i saw that and: fuck… fucking fucks….
seems like some will still be funded?
Happy Thanksgiving, btw
Never call it a good day while the sun is still up.
So odd seeing libs talk you down in this thread, and not do basic research.
I haven’t really been following all of this because I don’t need SNAP (yet), but it seems like it’s not hard to figure this out with Google.
Hopefully more states figure out how to allocate the USDA’s emergency funds before more people starve.
it’s doomer stuff i think… they can only scream about how horrible everything is.
if anything good happens, no it didn’t.
that or bots.
seems like a bot thing to not have live google access
The article is from Oct 29. I doubt the SNAP situation is news to many on the fediverse. I shared it more so because A) What a tone deaf headline, and B) To share the epiphany it caused me.
California is paying full SNAP benefits starting this morning. California cares. Trump, Mike Johnson, and The entire GOP couldn’t give less fucks about anyone else.
It’s the Democrats fault because they won’t cancel health care so we have to cancel food assistance - every republican I know
Considering that Walmart is one of the largest corporations benefiting from deliberately underpaying their workers and telling them it’s the government’s job to feed them, I find that my field of fucks is barren.
SNAP is basically a tax break for walmart. Underpay the staff and let the government cover their food, which is often bought at walmart.
Yeah Walmart would rather just have
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip
Don’t even need the government involved, which is ideal for them
That’s so much money. It’s immensely frustrating that any assistance programs we come up with ultimately become a massive wealth transfer to big companies.
SNAP, subsidized student loans/forgiveness, Medicaid/Medicare, etc. The market will just happily absorb the free taxpayer money and then still raise prices on everyone because of the increased demand.
and then still raise prices on everyone because of the increased demand.
Ostensibly because of increased demand, actually due to greed.
In a world not run by the rich, for the rich this wouldn’t be an issue. Just tax large corporations over a certain size at a slightly higher rate and redistribute it back down to the poorest, turning it into a loop.
Yes millions of people can’t access food, but have you thought about the impact this is having on Walmart’s profits?
I think its important for people to know there are consequences for supporting fascism. Walmart has been donating to conservative PACs for decades and the Waltons themselves tilt even harder than the company.
I don’t disagree, it’s just so fucking frustrating that people can scream from the rooftops for months/years that “this is bad, bad things will happen” and people will ignore them until it affects them personally or it affects a company’s profits.
The problem is all the people starving, not Walmart losing less than 1% of their profits. But apparently that less than 1% profit loss is what people listen to. It’s disgusting.
Honestly? If it’s what gets people to be fed, I’m okay with doing it because people starving is bad for the economy.
I’d rather we did at least the bare minimum for the right reason, but I’ll accept the wrong reason. At this point, hoping for more than the bare minimum seems unrealistic when we’re most likely to get the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.I’m sure they’ll just get a handout directly from the government instead.
“Our profits are in the RED, pls give money daddy govt 🥺🥺” but also somehow still makes record-breaking profits.
Remember kids, when a company says their profits are in the red, that does not mean they are losing money - THEY STILL MADE A PROFIT. Just not as much profit as last year.
Bruh, that would certainly be devastating, and it’s disgusting I can see that happening.
Maybe thisnmeans something might get done about all this.
What the article doesn’t mention is how many of Walmarts employees are on SNAP themselves.
Thats what i thought they were referencing at first. That Walmarts were going to be shutting their doors as all their snap subsidised employees started quitting in search of jobs that they could actually put food on the table with.
Walmart tends to blight communities of similar jobs, once they are established in those communities.
Exactly. They corner the market and destroy local industries because Walmart can sell items for a cheaper price
That’s an aspect of social security nets that’s rarely talked about: They stabilize domestic demand and thereby the local economy.
Food assistance programs are a huge subsidy/bailout program for big ag.
Walmart one year revenue is ~$700B.
Interesting how this billionaire family is making so much money off food stamps.
This is the only good news from trump’s term. The waltons losing money in this way exposes who they are, and might piss them off enough to do something.
The waltons losing money in this way exposes who they are, and might piss them off enough to do something.
As much as I hate the idea of corporate interests having that much influence over the government (any government), someone richer than him complaining could be the only thing that gets through Trump’s mushy head.
I’ve seen a lot of tik toks that are just veiled racism posts. “Oh look now that snap is gone the store is empty and I don’t see any ghetto people!” Like brother white people are the biggest recipients of snap.
He’s saving them so much in taxes that they can just lose $2 billion and be fine with it. The Walton family is worth almost $500 billion. They don’t give a fuck about this.
If a rational person was in their situation, they would see the benefit of taking the loss and making it back. But I don’t know if you become a billionaire by having a healthy relationship with money.
Waltons only own 45% of walmart now. There are a lot of non-billionaires that will be pretty pissed if the stock slumps. But many of those will just be regular joes, not the rich folk who have divested and planned ahead.
Probably more. Their starving employees will be stealing food from them to survive.
If you see someone stealing food; No, you didn’t.
Honestly, I’m at a point where if I see someone stealing anything from a large corporation, no the fuck I didn’t.
You have a moral obligation to create a diversion.
Yeah, run over a CEO as diversion.
I have, but no I didn’t.
I would not be surprised to read a headline soon stating “Walmart to receive government subsidies for lost SNAP revenue.”
Regardless if SNAP has been funded.
CEOs should do to Trump what the Roman senators did to Julius Caesar.
Walmart saves money by not paying a livable wage, they save money by not paying taxes, they receive money from the taxpayers who paid into snap. No wonder why they keep making profits year after year.
Its funny to me when SNAP is a focal point all the press stops talking about the farmers but obviously somebody is supplying walmart with 2 billion in products.
And those supplies prices are jacked up because of Tariffs.
