The Shapiro administration has posted messages blaming Republicans for the government shutdown, impacts to SNAP benefits

As nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians brace for the loss of their food assistance next month due to the federal government shutdown, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is pinning the blame on Republicans on Capitol Hill.

States administer the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides support to low-income people, including families with children. But as the standoff in Congress prevents federal funding from flowing to states, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration entered the messaging battle over the cause of the disruption to benefits.

“Because Republicans in Washington D.C., failed to pass a federal budget, causing the federal government shutdown, November 2025 SNAP benefits cannot be paid,“ reads a pastel orange banner on the DHS website from Friday, alerting recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the impending changes.

The message reflects the mounting impacts of the government shutdown, which is in its third full week, and the growing political tensions between Republicans and Democrats on the state and national levels after lawmakers failed to pass funding to avert a government shutdown by Oct. 1.

Shapiro has frequently gone head-to-head with the Trump administration, but the use of a state government website is a notable escalation.

The governor said in a news release Monday that Congress already had kicked off hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians from Medicaid and SNAP when it passed President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July.

“Now, Republicans are once again threatening vital support for Pennsylvania families and children — it’s time for them to pass a federal budget and end this shutdown.”

Pennsylvania Human Services Secretary Val Arkoosh added that “Inaction from Republicans in Congress” jeopardizes the well-being of Pennsylvanians.

A significant impact will be felt next month in Philadelphia, where half a million people will not receive SNAP benefits. The program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, serves households including elderly people, individuals with disabilities, and children.

Another Democratic-led state, Illinois, also referred to the lapse in funding as the “Republican federal government shutdown” on its benefits webpage. Other Democratic-led states near Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, have not posted political messages on their states’ SNAP benefits pages.

Republicans in Pennsylvania criticized the use of the DHS website for a partisan message.

“Public service isn’t a political weapon and using a government website to fuel your partisan agenda is indefensible,” the Pennsylvania GOP wrote Monday in a post on X.

However, the Trump administration has also been using its official government websites for partisan rhetoric on the national level, potentially raising red flags related to federal ethics laws.

The shutdown is “Democrat-led,” says the Trump administration’s State Department website.

“The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government,” declares a bright red banner on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development homepage.

The rising political pressure comes as the Trump administration began rolling out highly politicized messaging to the public and federal employees after the government shutdown began earlier this month.

Last week, Philadelphia International Airport and other airports refused to play a video from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that inculpates Democratic members of Congress for the shutdown.

And some federal workers — nonpartisan civil servants who have been coping with plummeting morale and either being furloughed or working without pay during the shutdown — have been on the receiving end of politicized messaging, too.

A message to federal employees ahead of the Oct. 1 funding deadline proclaims that Trump “opposes a government shutdown.”

Any lapse in appropriations, the message continues, is “forced by Congressional Democrats.”