2025 CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN
Please don't forget Aleteia in your end-of-the-year giving! Help us continue to provide free content.
The U.S. government needs to find a way to re-open and lawmakers need to work together to ensure that programs such as SNAP can remain funded, said an October 28 statement from the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“As this government shutdown continues, the U.S. bishops are deeply alarmed that essential programs that support the common good, such as SNAP, may be interrupted," said the statement, which was signed by conference president Archbishop Timothy Broglio. Broglio is the archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, was formerly known as "food stamps." The program provides funds to needy families to buy food and beverages. SNAP funding is set to run out on November 1 due to the government shutdown. The government shutdown began on October 1, 2025.
Should these benefits not be distributed, "this would be catastrophic for families and individuals who rely on SNAP to put food on the table and places the burdens of this shutdown most heavily on the poor and vulnerable of our nation, who are the least able to move forward," said Archbishop Broglio.
"This consequence is unjust and unacceptable," he added.
Advocacy for those in need is not unusual for the bishops, said Broglio, and is not politically motivated.
The bishops, said Broglio, "have consistently advocated for public policies that support those in need."
With the shutdown approaching its second month, the bishops called for lawmakers to work together to pass a bill that would re-open the government and resume federal funding of various programs.
"I urgently plead with lawmakers and the Administration to work in a bipartisan way to ensure that these lifesaving programs are funded, and to pass a government funding bill to end the government shutdown as quickly as possible.”
