Effects of the pause will be especially widespread in Texas, which has the highest population of food insecure people in the country.

Cha Community, a restaurant that serves boba tea alongside Taiwanese and Chinese food, has pulled together enough money to provide 311 free meals in less than a week at its Temple and Waco locations.

The calls to the Republican governor came as the food stamp program was set to run out of funding amid the government shutdown.

As the nation prepares for SNAP benefits to halt on Saturday, leaders turned their attention to public schools. For millions of students, school is the most reliable source of meals.

Democrats argue Gov. Abbott has used his authority during COVID-19, the Uvalde shooting and border operations to free up emergency funds.

Texas is home to 254 counties—more than any other U.S. state—and has wide disparities in SNAP enrollment. According to a September 2025 report from Texas Health and Human Services, Lamar County had the highest enrollment at 29.5 percent of residents, while King County had the lowest at 0.7 percent.

Texas, offered a pointed analogy Wednesday when asked about Democrats blaming President Donald Trump for the impending cutoff of federal nutrition assistance due to the government shutdown. Cornyn compared Democrats to the proverbial kid who murders his parents,

The ongoing shutdown means more than $600M per month won’t go to millions of Texas SNAP beneficiaries who pump that money into the state economy.