Mayor Steven L. Reed said on the Mayor’s Take podcast that the recent federal government shutdown left families without Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and amounted to "negligence on on behalf of the party that's in power." He urged that households who missed benefits be "compensated for in arrears for what they missed."

Reed, interviewed by host Darryl Hall, explicitly blamed national leadership for the disruption. "That's the Republican Party," he said, arguing the party in power had failed to keep government services running and citing missed paychecks and interrupted food assistance during the holidays. He added that threats from the federal administration to withhold funds from states that attempted partial SNAP payments further worsened the situation, a point he raised as a reason some states hesitated to substitute for lost federal benefits.

Why this matters: SNAP provides monthly food assistance to low-income households; interruptions can create immediate hardship for families, especially with the Thanksgiving and winter holidays approaching. Reed framed the issue as both a humanitarian concern and a political consequence that affected voter sentiment in recent state elections.

Details cited by Reed included a call for arrearage payments once the government reopens and criticism that federal priorities had shifted toward tax cuts for the wealthy rather than support for affordability. He also described the political fallout in recent elections as voters responding to those priorities. Reed did not provide a dollar estimate of arrears or a timeline for any compensatory payments.

Next steps: Reed urged elected leaders and the administration to restore services and to consider back payments for those who missed benefits; he said the city would watch federal developments but gave no local policy action beyond advocacy.