Washington’s failure to pass a budget has spilled into American grocery aisles, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture telling states that November SNAP payments cannot be issued and warning that contingency funds are reserved for disasters — in short, the well has run dry for food-stamp disbursements. Millions of families who depend on EBT for basic groceries now face empty cards unless Congress acts, and the chaotic sight of this craven Washington stalemate falling at the expense of hungry Americans is on our watch.
As the politicians bicker, social media filled up with jaw-dropping clips of people openly saying they will loot and “stick together” to storm big-box stores if benefits don’t arrive — videos that amount to an ugly admission of entitlement-driven mob thinking and a threat to public safety. These posts aren’t fringe commentary; they show a real and dangerous link between government dependence and public disorder that leaders should not downplay.
State officials and attorneys general reacted as they should: 25 states and D.C. rushed to court to force the USDA to restore benefits and to hold the line on feeding citizens through November, while some local leaders scrambled to find emergency fixes. That level of intergovernmental conflict proves how badly Washington’s broken spending process endangers everyday Americans and forces governors to pick up the federal mess with borrowed time and resources.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the deployment of National Guard troops to help food banks and fast-track state funds to cover gaps, a reminder that left-leaning governors will always try to turn federal failures into political theater and yet still cannot fix the root problem: a federal budget process in paralysis. Deploying soldiers to hand out food is a stopgap, not a solution, and it underscores how taxpayer-funded programs have become both politically weaponized and habit-forming for too many.
Let’s not pretend this is only about compassion — it’s about common sense. Decades of expanding entitlement programs without accountability have created perverse incentives that reward dependency over dignity, and scenes of threatened looting show what happens when people think the state owes them without limits. Conservatives believe in supporting the vulnerable, but support must be paired with work, responsibility, and reforms that stop fraud and trafficking while restoring pathways to employment and self-reliance.
Congress and the administration both bear responsibility: Congress for refusing to pass appropriations, and the USDA for the blunt directive that states should not front November payments without reimbursement. If taxpayers are going to underwrite a safety net, that net must be managed with common-sense rules — including strict anti-fraud enforcement and work requirements for able-bodied adults — so that benefits go to those truly in need and the system isn’t gamed.
Americans who work and play by the rules should demand better: secure the border, enforce the law, reform welfare, and force Washington to stop using food on a political chopping block. If leaders on both sides of the aisle refuse to act, communities will continue to pick up the pieces — and taxpayers will keep footing the bill for a system that all too often breeds dependence instead of opportunity.
