USDA says SNAP benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1

A notice on top of its website says "the well has run dry."

Last Updated: October 26, 2025, 5:58 PM EDT

The Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website warning that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1.

"Bottom line, the well has run dry," reads the notice, which also blames Democrats for the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain at a stalemate on finding a government funding solution. The Senate has continued to fail to advance bill that would reopen the government until Nov. 21. The House remains out of session next week.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 11, 2025, 6:04 PM EDT

Coding error leads to CDC employees mistakenly laid off: Official

In the process of laying off large numbers of health employees, the Trump administration mistakenly issued reduction-in-force notices to members of key CDC offices due to a “coding error,” a federal health official told ABC News on Saturday.

Workers involved in responding to Ebola outbreaks in Africa and measles outbreaks in the U.S. are among those who were mistakenly issued reduction-in-force notices, the official said.

A general view of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Sept. 30, 2014.
Tami Chappell/Reuters, FILE

An overwhelming amount of staff in the office in charge of putting out the weekly CDC science journal, known as the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), were also told that they were let go, two sources told ABC News.

But those employees were also mistakenly cut, the federal health official said.

The MMWR report is dubbed “the voice of CDC” and is widely respected and used by clinicians across the country. It has been the CDC’s standard scientific journal for decades.

The federal health official told ABC News that the employees mistakenly laid off will receive a formal notice rescinding their elimination “eventually,” likely within a matter of days.

The coding errors affected just four offices within CDC, according to the health official, meaning hundreds of HHS employees will still lose their jobs.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud and Will McDuffie

Oct 11, 2025, 3:23 PM EDT

Trump tells Hegseth to use 'all available funds' to guarantee troops are paid

Trump said Saturday he’s directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to pay members of the military on Oct. 15 despite the government shutdown.

The president said in a social media post that said he’s “identified” the funds he’d be able to do this with, but did not give any more details.

President Donald Trump looks on during an announcement about lowering drug prices at the White House, Oct. 10, 2025.
Kent Nishimura/Reuters

A spokesperson for the Office of Budget and Management told ABC News that the funds Trump said he’s “identified” to pay members of the military amid the shutdown are from pots of research and development money from the Department of Defense that's available for two years. The White House has not immediately provided further details.

Trump also reiterated in his post that he wouldn’t negotiate with Democrats over their healthcare demands until they vote to reopen the government.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray

Oct 11, 2025, 11:57 AM EDT

Trump administration terminates CDC employees who respond to infectious disease outbreaks: Sources

Among those impacted by the Trump Administration's Reductions in Force (RIF) at the CDC are top agency employees responsible for responding to infectious disease outbreaks like measles, two sources familiar with the terminations told ABC News.


Around 130 people in the director’s office at the National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) were let go, including much of the center’s leadership, the sources said.

A microbiologist pulls Listeria bacteria from a tube to be tested for its DNA fingerprinting in a food borne disease outbreak lab at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Nov. 2013.
David Goldman/AP, FILE

These individuals managed divisions that responded to various public health threats, including bacterial diseases, viral diseases, respiratory diseases like influenza and coronaviruses, as well as vaccinations. This includes surveillance, policy, and communications, sources added.


The terminations come as the U.S. continues to deal with multiple public health threats. Measles outbreaks in parts of the country have led to the highest number of cases nationally since 1992.


Last year’s flu season was one of the most severe and intense in recent history with a record high number of children dying from the virus. Whooping cough cases are near record highs for the second year in a row.

Representatives for HHS and the White House did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud, Will McDuffie and Mary Kekatos

Oct 11, 2025, 11:56 AM EDT

9 CDC departments rocked by Trump administration layoffs: Sources

Employees who worked in various departments at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were terminated as part of Trump's Friday Reductions in Force order, sources told ABC News Friday.


Among the departments affected were: the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; the Global Health Center; the Alzheimer's Disease Program; Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology; the Injury Center, the Epidemic Intelligence Service; the Center for Forecasting Outbreaks and Analytics; the Public Health Infrastructure Center and the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention; and Health Promotion.


A general view of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Sept. 30, 2014.
Tami Chappell/Reuters, FILE


The RIFs appear to be impacting communications teams at the CDC as well as scientists, according to the sources.


It’s possible some staff who were terminated were not among the employees furloughed during the federal government shutdown, the sources said.


-ABC News' Mark Abdelmalek and Mary Kekatos

Sponsored Content by Taboola