31 Oct 2025 Showdown Over SNAP Benefits Points to Excessive Government Control and Dependency

Black Americans make up about 13.6 percent of our population, but they account for 26 percent of those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. With the government shutdown, families experiencing poverty are once again at the mercy of the political class.

As Project 21 Ambassador Christopher Arps aptly writes in a RedState commentary:

No one, especially a conservative like myself, wants to see low-income families or children go hungry. However, this moment sheds light on something much deeper happening in our country: We’ve replaced community with bureaucracy and compassion with an entitlement mindset….

When the government shuts down and suddenly millions panic and fear going hungry, that’s not just a failure of Washington, but it’s also a failure on us as Americans. Our Founding Fathers never intended the government to be our father, mother, and provider. The modern-day welfare state has expanded government while also shrinking some people’s capacity to be self-reliant.

Other ambassadors with the Project 21 black leadership network are responding to the potential suspension of SNAP benefits.

Michael Austin, Project 21 ambassador and economic consultant:

If you rely on politicians to put food on your table, don’t be surprised when they use your hunger as a bargaining chip. This is what happens when we build our safety nets out of politics instead of purpose.

Genuine food security doesn’t come from a government card; it comes from job opportunities, independence and strong families. That’s a system that politicians can’t shut down.

Horace Cooper, Project 21 chairman:

Once again progressives prove they are not allies with Black America. Their destroy-the-village-to-save-the-village approach harms struggling families and households all across the country, and blacks are hardest hit.

The so-called Affordable Care Act was always an expensive boondoggle doomed to fail, and the latest demands pushed by progressives prove that its problems are fundamental. A solution that requires more and more taxpayers to work is no solution and puts the next generation in a debt vice.

The Schumer Shutdown was always a terrible strategy, and now the most vulnerable in our country will suffer starting this weekend. Progressives should end their stranglehold on federal government funding and allow it to reopen.

Evie Harris (“Shelly E”), Project 21 ambassador and small-business owner:

The vast number of Americans receiving SNAP benefits says way more about Americans’ dependency on government than it does about the government shutdown. Too many Americans are fully dependent on taxpaying Americans to feed and house them.

Meanwhile, our politicians of both parties are more than happy to fill this “provider” role to maintain their control over Americans’ lives, as they distribute the fruits of working Americans to millions who won’t even plow their own fields.

Linda Lee Tarver, Project 21 ambassador:

Leftists in the U.S. Senate “have said the quiet part loud.” Senator “Chucky” (a Halloween homage) Schumer and other extreme acolytes have shut down the government for political leverage.

The nation’s poor, especially 26% of the nation’s black population, are losing SNAP benefits as part of this liberal hostage taking. This shutdown belongs solely to the left, and their hatred for America should be exposed and rejected.

Terris Todd, Project 21’s director of coalitions and outreach: 

“They’re going to put you all back in chains,” the infamous 2012 quote by former President Biden, has actually been the leftists’ own playbook for decades while they’ve claimed it’s someone else’s fault.

Today the shutdown of our government is a part of the same leftist blueprint, and everyday Americans continue to suffer from their need to remain in power.

To quote a famous maxim, “a government big enough to give you everything that you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have.”

Andre Barnes, Project 21 ambassador and immigration expert:

The impact of the shutdown should be a wake-up call to black Americans. Leftists are holding the country hostage in order to get benefits for illegal aliens.

Why are they ignoring the needs of almost 11 million black Americans? Black Americans need to ponder that — not forget it — and respond accordingly.

 

P Rae Easley, Project 21 ambassador and Chicago activist:

In the early 1900s, federal food stamps were initially denied to black Americans because of racist policies drafted by liberals in the federal government. Now we have the descendants of the same lawmakers denying them again, but this time in the name of healthcare for legal immigrants, which is direct racism toward black Americans.

Illegal immigration hurts our community the most, and those who fight to maintain any aspect of it are directly fighting against black wealth in this country. Those people are extremely unpatriotic and have chosen to side with the Third World against their own compatriots. It’s like they don’t see us as full and equal Americans, and why they label us minorities and dump us into the immigrant class.

Jovani Patterson, Project 21 ambassador and Baltimore activist:

This government shutdown reveals just how dependent our nation has become. We’ve drifted from the values of industry, self-sufficiency, and men leading their homes as providers and protectors. It’s time to rebuild that foundation–one family, one neighborhood at a time. Grow food, raise chickens where you can (even in cities), mentor the next generation, and restore the networks of trust and support that once held our communities together.

Government aid has its place, but when we look to politicians as our providers, we forfeit the very strength that built this country and many black communities.

It’s time for men to reclaim that role and for families to stand firm again.

Marie Fischer, Project 21 ambassador:

Has anyone audited SNAP beneficiaries who are working to determine why they receive government aid? I have been told there are certain major companies that under-employ many of their employees in that if they worked full time, they would not need SNAP benefits.

These beneficiaries are also at the mercy of a political class of whom only a very, very small minority has ever had to use such benefits. These politicians thus can never understand what it is like to depend upon the government to give them their daily bread.

In a time like this, we need more nonprofits and co-ops to step up — not only in providing food, but also if possible to purchase land to create community gardens. By doing so, many will learn to grow as much as possible and thus being less dependent on a ruling political class.