SNAP came back after the shutdown, funded through September 2026

When the federal government shut down on Oct. 1, 2025, SNAP food aid ran dry. November benefits lapsed for the first time in the program’s history. This law ended the 43-day shutdown and put $107.5 billion behind SNAP through Sept. 30, 2026. It also gave WIC, the food program for mothers and young children, $8.2 billion, and paid back the states that kept both programs going on their own money. You didn’t have to apply again. States loaded the missing November benefits onto existing EBT cards.

The law also covered federal workers. About 1.4 million who were furloughed or worked without pay are guaranteed back pay. Layoffs that agencies carried out during the shutdown were voided, and new ones were barred through Jan. 30, 2026, though agencies disputed how far the reversal reached.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, and Angus King negotiated the deal with Republican leaders. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia pushed for the protections for federal workers. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins led the full-year bills that carried SNAP and WIC, and House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole sponsored the bill. Nearly all Republicans and eight senators who caucus with Democrats passed it in the Senate 60–40, and the House followed 222–209. Most Democrats voted no because it left out an extension of health insurance subsidies. President Donald Trump signed it on Nov. 12, 2025.