Billionaires Step In to Help Plug Food Aid Gaps During Shutdown [View all]

Source: Bloomberg

November 1, 2025 at 10:30 AM EDT


Wealthy philanthropists across the country are stepping in to help put food on the tables of 42 million Americans set to lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — better known as SNAP — over the weekend. In San Francisco, the city announced a public-private partnership with billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz’s foundation, which is matching city funding with a $9 million gift.

The Robin Hood Foundation in New York has contributed $1 million to an emergency fund, while in Massachusetts, real estate developer Bill Cummings’ foundation pledged $1 million to a nonprofit that aims to offset some of the cuts. “You’re going to have real people, real families, you’re going to have children who will go hungry beginning this weekend when those resources dry up,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters Friday.

The gifts are just a drop in the bucket compared with the $9.2 billion needed to fully fund the aid for November, but are meant to soften the economic pain expected as a result of the prolonged government shutdown, which is entering its second month. The SNAP program will run out of federal money Saturday if Congress doesn’t act, and the Agriculture Department has told states to delay transmitting this month’s benefit files “until further notice.”

Two federal judges ruled Friday that the Trump administration’s decision to suspend food-aid benefits is likely unlawful, with one ordering that contingency funds be distributed immediately and the other giving officials until Nov. 3 to report whether they would authorize at least partially funding the program.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-01/billionaires-step-in-to-help-plug-food-aid-gaps-during-shutdown?srnd=homepage-americas