The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) remains unfunded as the federal government shutdown enters its second month, and the lapse is now hitting home across rural Northeast Texas.
According to data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, more than 20,000 residents in Hunt, Delta, Fannin, and Rains Counties were receiving SNAP benefits at the start of 2023. Altogether those payments totaled about $3.3 million per month — money that typically moves straight through local grocery stores, markets, and convenience retailers.
Economists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate that each dollar of SNAP spending generates roughly $1.50 in local economic activity, meaning the current funding pause could translate to about $5 million in lost economic circulation each month across the four-county region.
“SNAP spending is one of the quickest forms of economic stimulus, because recipients spend benefits rapidly,” the USDA’s Economic Research Service has written. “With those dollars not flowing, the slowdown is almost immediate.”
How much money is missing
Source: Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Jan 2023 benefit month.
Across these counties, about 12 to 23 percent of residents depend on SNAP — roughly one in eight people in Hunt County and nearly one in four in Delta County, based on U.S. Census Bureau 2022 population estimates.
Who’s affected
Local grocers and food-bank directors say the cutoff is already showing. The North Texas Food Bank reports increased demand since mid-October, calling the loss of SNAP “a one-two punch for families and small retailers alike.”
“When benefits stop, families buy less, and that ripple moves up through suppliers,” said one regional food-bank official. “Everyone feels it within days.”
In Texas, most SNAP households include children, seniors, or people with disabilities. State data show that about six in ten families receiving SNAP benefits have children, and roughly one in four include an elderly or disabled member (Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Legislative Report on SNAP, 2024). About four in ten households have at least one working adult, meaning many SNAP participants are employed but still fall short of covering basic food costs.
Federal data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that Texas SNAP participation generally reflects the state’s poverty demographics: roughly 45 percent Hispanic, 30 percent non-Hispanic White, and 22 percent Black or African American. In Northeast Texas counties, where the overall population skews older and whiter than the state average, local administrators say participation is more evenly split — roughly as many white households as households of color.
Taken together, these numbers mean that most people missing their November benefits are not outsiders to the local economy. They’re the same families who staff grocery stores, farms, schools, and small businesses — and who now face the prospect of going without enough food while millions of federal dollars remain frozen in Washington.
The debate in Washington
House Speaker Mike Johnson says SNAP cannot legally be funded without a new appropriation, citing a USDA memo that restricts the use of contingency funds. “There is no legal avenue to keep SNAP running under current law,” Johnson said last week. Republican leaders have blamed Senate Democrats for not voting on the House’s funding package.
But as Politico reported, Senate Republican Leader John Thune had no vote scheduled to reopen the government before SNAP benefits expired, and the program’s funding remains at an impasse.
Fiscal hawks in both parties have sometimes described SNAP pauses as “budget discipline” or “temporary savings,” language used in recent floor debates and committee hearings (congress.gov). In practice, however, the money is not reallocated or saved for future use; it simply is not issued to eligible households until appropriations resume. The effect is less federal outlay in the short term and less food on the table locally.
What it means here
If benefits remain frozen through November, more than $6 million that normally moves through grocery lanes and farm-supply stores across Hunt, Delta, Fannin, and Rains Counties will never enter those local economies. And for the roughly 20,000 residents who rely on SNAP to eat each month, there’s no clear timeline for relief.
