Trump Allegedly Halted SNAP Operations, According to Gov. Pritzker

Illinois Governor’s Food Aid Claim During Shutdown Proves Inaccurate

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker made an inaccurate claim about the Trump administration’s handling of food assistance during the federal government shutdown, according to fact-checkers who reviewed his statements.

During an October 30 press conference, Pritzker, a Democrat who has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump throughout the shutdown, responded to questions about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

“They’ve done something insidious, the federal government,” Pritzker said, before adding that the Trump administration had decided against using emergency funds to pay for SNAP during the shutdown. While this first part of his statement was accurate, he then claimed: “But they’ve done something even more insidious. They’ve decided to shut down the SNAP machines, so that they can’t be used.”

This assertion was false. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) never announced plans to disable the electronic payment systems that process SNAP transactions. In fact, SNAP recipients use the same point-of-sale terminals that all customers use for credit and debit payments—there are no separate “SNAP machines” that could be shut down.

The confusion appears to stem from the USDA’s announcement that it would stop issuing monthly SNAP benefits starting November 1 due to the government shutdown, which began October 1 when federal spending authority expired. SNAP benefits are loaded onto Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which function similarly to debit cards at retail locations.

Industry representatives from both the National Grocers Association and FMI – The Food Industry Association confirmed that regardless of the shutdown, SNAP recipients would still be able to use any remaining balances on their EBT cards, and payment terminals would continue processing those transactions normally.

When asked about the governor’s comments, a spokesperson for Pritzker clarified that he was referring to the fact that EBT cards would not be reloaded with new funds for November, effectively making them unusable for recipients who had exhausted their previous month’s benefits.

The situation changed shortly after Pritzker’s press conference when U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island ruled that the federal government must continue issuing SNAP benefits during the first week of November. In response, the Trump administration announced it would use a $4.65 billion contingency fund to cover approximately 50% of eligible households’ current payments.

President Trump subsequently posted on Truth Social: “I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.”

The SNAP program serves approximately 42 million Americans, providing an average of $190 monthly for individuals or $356 for households. Recipients use these benefits to purchase essential groceries including fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products and bread.

Before the judge’s ruling, Governor Pritzker had issued an executive order allocating $20 million to Illinois food banks to help offset the anticipated gap in federal nutrition assistance.

The controversy highlights the heightened political tensions surrounding the government shutdown and its impact on social safety net programs. While Pritzker correctly noted that the Trump administration initially decided against using emergency funds for SNAP during the shutdown, his claim about “SNAP machines” being shut down was unfounded and mischaracterized the actual situation.

After reviewing the evidence, fact-checkers rated Pritzker’s statement about the government shutting down “SNAP machines” as false, as no such separate payment infrastructure exists that could be disabled independent of regular payment processing systems used by all consumers.