The AFL-CIO and 26 labor unions have called on Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to immediately release more than $5 billion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) contingency funds. In a letter sent this week, the unions warned that withholding these funds puts 90,000 jobs at risk and threatens food assistance for 42 million Americans, including 1.2 million veterans.
The unions’ letter emphasized SNAP’s role in supporting the economy: “SNAP is an economic multiplier. Each $1 spent by SNAP generates up to $1.80 in economic activity.” The groups argue that blocking emergency funding could result in thousands of workers losing their paychecks, particularly those involved in distributing SNAP benefits.
“SNAP creates union jobs along the food supply chain. Union members are on meat-cutting floors, delivering and processing food, processing SNAP benefits, picking and harvesting the food that ends up on dinner tables, working in America’s forests, and checking out your constituents at the grocery store,” the letter stated.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for its approach during the ongoing government shutdown: “President Trump is deliberately inflicting pain on workers by cutting jobs, slashing food assistance and ripping away livelihoods,” said Shuler. “These cuts are leading to hungry children and seniors, veterans losing benefits, and droves of working people spending their mornings in line at the food bank. The administration could continue SNAP without a hitch. Instead, it’s inflicting cruelty on people and treating this crisis as some sick political game.”
According to union leaders, additional job losses from withholding SNAP funds would worsen impacts already felt during the government shutdown. They cite federal data showing that 730,000 federal employees are currently working without pay while another 670,000 have been furloughed. Health care jobs may also be affected; construction, transportation and energy workers face uncertainty as infrastructure projects remain suspended.
Union officials also accused President Trump and Congressional allies of neglecting domestic priorities while authorizing significant overseas expenditures and luxury projects during the shutdown period.
The unions point out that keeping over $5 billion in contingency funds unused contradicts protocols set less than a month ago by Secretary Rollins herself. The USDA previously used its interchange authority to transfer tariff funds to maintain Women Infants & Children (WIC) benefits during a shutdown.
Just before the current shutdown began, Secretary Rollins signed a plan confirming that SNAP contingency funds were available if regular funding lapsed—a position consistent with previous statements made by Trump administration officials in 2019 regarding similar circumstances.
“The Administration can and must take action immediately to ensure that millions of families across the country can rely on SNAP benefits to continue putting food on their tables,” concluded the joint letter from AFL-CIO and allied unions.
