November 3, 2025 — Two U.S. judges have ordered the Trump administration to issue food assistance benefits via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) despite the ongoing government shutdown.
In response, the Trump administration announced that it would use an emergency fund to provide partial benefits for the SNAP program in November, although it will not tap into other sources to fully fund the program.
October 31, 2025 — Funding for the U.S. government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program is set to expire in November leaving millions without benefits, although a U.S. federal judge may order the Trump administration to utilize an emergency fund to make sure some money goes out next month.
“Right now, Congress has put money in an emergency fund for an emergency, and it’s hard for me to understand how this isn’t an emergency when there’s no money and a lot of people are needing their SNAP benefits,” U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said during an 30 October hearing, according to CNN.
December 9, 2024 — Based on actions taken by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration during his first term in office, some organizations are voicing concerns that he might try to alter and potentially weaken the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) after he takes office in January – which will in turn impact seafood consumption.
SNAP is the largest federal program aimed at combating hunger in the U.S. and supports around 42 million beneficiaries.
January 22, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is increasing the Pandemic-EBT benefit and plans to further expand funding of its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), presenting significant new opportunities for seafood suppliers to sell their products to fulfill the program’s needs.
Soon after taking office, U.S. President Joe Biden raised the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) benefit by around 15 percent, according to USDA. The program connects low-income families with kids with food dollars equivalent to the value of the meals missed due to COVID-related school and childcare closures.
April 22, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has hiked funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), allowing millions of households to buy more groceries.
The agency also expanded a pilot program that permits SNAP recipients to order groceries online.
April 24, 2019 — Amazon and Walmart are participating in a United States government pilot program that allows Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to buy groceries online.
The two-year test, which recently launched in New York, allows online purchasing by SNAP households with electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards issued in New York.
Amazon and Walmart will participate in the initial pilot launch on 23 April with ShopRite joining early next week. ShopRite and Amazon are providing service to the New York City area and Walmart is providing online service in upstate New York locations.
February 20, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Seafood News Editor’s Note: The story below lays out known facts about the cuts to the federal budget made by the Trump Administration. However, it is unlikely that Congress will accept these cuts.
The Trump Administration’s $4.4 trillion federal budget for next year takes some mean whacks to programs that affect fisheries.
Off the top, the spending plan unveiled on February 12 cuts the budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by 20 percent to $4.6 billion. Among other things, NOAA manages the nation’s fisheries in waters from three to 200 miles offshore, which produce the bulk of Alaska’s seafood landings.
It’s the cuts within the cuts that reveal the most.
NOAA Fisheries is facing a $110.4 million drop to $837.3 million, a 14 percent budget cut. That includes a $17.7 million decrease in fisheries science and management, a $5 million cut in data collection needed for stock assessments, a $5.1 million reduction in funding for catch share programs and a $2.9 million cut to cooperative research programs.
The proposals for NOAA law enforcement are even more severe – a decline of $17.8 million is a 25 percent budget reduction.
“The entire law enforcement reduction is coming from the agency’s cooperative enforcement program and will eliminate funding for joint enforcement agreements with law enforcement partners from 28 states and U.S. territories,” reported the Gloucester Times.
The National Weather Service, also under NOAA’s umbrella, is facing a $75 million slice off its $1 billion budget. It will axe 355 jobs, more than a quarter of the NWS staff, including 248 forecasters.
Trump also wants to cut $4.8 million from habitat and conservation programs, wiping out funding and grants for NOAA’s fisheries habitat restoration projects.
The Trump plan proposes gutting $40 million from NOAA climate change programs, which would eliminate competitive grants for research and end studies on global warming in the Arctic, including predictions of sea-ice and fisheries in a changing climate.
The national Sea Grant College Program, which conducts research, training and education at more than 30 U.S. universities, is again on the chopping block.
Funding for programs under the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that monitor earthquakes and volcanoes would each drop by 21 percent. The USGS water-resources program, which includes the national stream-gauge network, would be reduced 23 percent.
Trump proposes to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget to $6.1 billion in 2019, its lowest level since the early 1990s and about 25 percent below the current mark.
The EPA budget also eliminates funding for climate-change research while providing $502 million for fossil energy research, an increase of nearly 24 percent.
Seafood sales also could be badly hurt by proposed deep cuts to food stamps, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Instead of shopping at grocery stores, under Trump’s plan recipients would receive boxes of shelf-stable commodity items such as powdered milk, juices, pasta, peanut butter, and canned meats, fruits and vegetables.
“Seafood is the only major food group that is not considered a USDA commodity. If the new food delivery platform is going to put an emphasis on commodity goods, then that will leave out lean, heart-healthy seafood,” said Linda Cornish, president of the Seafood Nutrition Partnership.
Closer to home, Trump also plans to stop federal funding for the Denali Commission, introduced by Congress in 1998 as an independent agency to provide critical utilities, infrastructure and economic support throughout Alaska. The plan calls for a $10 million cut out of $17 million, with the difference going to an “orderly closure.”
The White House says that any state that can afford to pay its residents an annual dividend doesn’t need a “unique and additional federal subsidy” such as the commission, wrote longtime Alaska journalist Dermot Cole. Trump added that “the commissions’ effectiveness at improving overall economic conditions remains unproven.”
The FY19 budget, which goes into effect on October 1, now goes before Congress.
This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
February 16, 2018 — U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2019 budget proposal, which includes deep cuts to the U.S. food stamp program, could harm seafood sales at U.S. supermarket chains, organizations told SeafoodSource.
The Trump administration proposes slashing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or “food stamps” program, by USD 17.2 billion (EUR 13.8 billion) in 2019, or around 22 percent compared to last year’s funding.
In addition, the program would shift to a boxed food delivery program. The current system allows SNAP participants to purchase their groceries at supermarket chains, farmers markets, and other retail locations.
Under the new proposal, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), would deliver packages of U.S.-grown commodities such as shelf-stable milk, juice, grains, cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans, along with canned meat, fruits and vegetables to recipients.
USDA estimates that it could provide the boxed delivery program at half the cost of the current retail program.
“Seafood is the only major food group that is not considered a USDA commodity. If the new food delivery platform is going to put an emphasis on commodity goods, then that will leave out lean, heart-healthy seafood, which is the only significant source of essential nutrients such as omega-3s EPA and DHA, as well as selenium,” Linda Cornish, president of Seafood Nutrition Partnership, told SeafoodSource.
Read the full story at Seafood Source