The Trump Administration is Slashing Food Stamps. Here’s What They’re Buying Instead.

The Defense Department spent $93.4 billion in September alone—with $50 billion in the final five working days—on items including $6.9 million in lobster tail, $15.1 million in ribeye steak, and $12,540 three-tiered fruit basket stands, driven by a congressional "use it or lose it" budgeting rule that forces agencies to exhaust annual allocations or risk losing future funding. This record spending occurred the same month a government shutdown briefly cut off 42 million Americans from SNAP food assistance. The Trump administration, which created DOGE specifically to eliminate government waste, is now pushing to increase the Defense Department budget by 66 percent to $1.5 trillion next year. Meanwhile, Trump's One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act restructured SNAP with new work requirements and shifted costs to states—changes the Congressional Budget Office estimates could permanently strip 4 million people of food assistance.