By Commissioner David Stout
While millions of Americans are wondering how they will put food on the table, President Donald Trump and his allies are throwing parties. As our country neared its longest government shutdown in United States history, the Trump administration reportedly hosted a lavish Gatsby-themed celebration complete with champagne, chandeliers and gold décor for the political elite.
It is hard to imagine a clearer picture of the divide in this country. On one side stand billionaires and power brokers celebrating their own excess. On the other side are working families lining up at food banks because the government they fund with their taxes has turned its back on them.
As of Nov. 1, roughly 42 million Americans have lost access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and other programs. That is the direct result of a shutdown orchestrated by Trump and his Republican allies, a political stunt with real human costs.
This isn’t just an individual hardship, it’s a systemic failure impacting our entire economy. SNAP benefits keep grocery stores operating, farmers selling their produce, truckers transporting goods, local businesses running.
When people cannot buy groceries, local commerce and suppliers lose revenue. Nationwide, SNAP generates roughly $9 billion in grocery sales each month, and yes, that has a ripple effect in every zip code in our state, including ours.
Here in El Paso County, we are feeling those costs acutely. Our community is home to one of the largest populations of federal civilian employees in Texas, more than 22,000 people or about 6 percent of our workforce. Many have now gone more than a month without pay. They are public servants, the people who inspect our food, process benefits, maintain our infrastructure, and guard our borders. Today, some of them are visiting squeezed local food banks to feed their families.
This is what happens when the priorities of the government are hijacked by greed and political theater. While the Trump administration glamorizes wealth and hosts Gatsby-style galas, ordinary Americans, the ones who keep the lights on and make this country run, are struggling to afford groceries.
The parallel is chilling. In the novel “The Great Gatsby,” the glittering parties masked a deep rot underneath. That is what we are living through now, an era of excess for the few and deprivation for the many.
Under Trump and his Republican allies, support for working people has been slashed while the wealthiest 1% have enjoyed massive tax cuts. Corporations like Walmart, Amazon and McDonald’s continue to pay wages so low that thousands of their workers must rely on public assistance just to survive. A 2020 federal study identified these companies as top employers of workers who depend on food stamps and Medicaid – even as executives pocket billions and fight to crush unions.
This is not only a fiscal crisis. It is a moral one.
The divide in America is not between right and left. It is between the ultra-rich and the working class. It is between those who can afford to sip champagne at a Gatsby party and those who are wondering how to buy milk for their kids.
Here in El Paso, that divide isn’t theoretical. Our community, one of the hardest-working and lowest-paid in the nation, continues to bear the brunt of policies written to serve the wealthy while leaving working families behind.
But it’s communities like ours that are making policy choices to keep our neighbors safe, fed, and cared for. For example, El Paso County provided $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to El Pasoans Fighting Hunger during the COVID pandemic, and continued supporting the organization through subsequent rounds of ARPA-supported grant funding.
My office created the Healthy Food Financing Initiative in 2018; the program, the first of its kind at the county level in the nation, provides funds for small business that serves healthy foods in underserved areas, has assisted such local operations as Bodega Loya and Desert Spoon Food Hub (find out more here: https://www.epcounty.com/economic/food.htm).
This is not just an issue of food access and health. With the federal shutdown cutting off assistance, El Paso is set to lose nearly $24 million every month in SNAP benefits that would otherwise flow into our local economy.
That is why, at this week’s Commissioners Court meeting, El Paso County took decisive action. We unanimously voted to explore every legal and practical path to secure food aid for residents. County departments have been directed to identify immediate ways to reduce the shutdown’s local impact. We are formally calling on our state and federal delegations and the governor’s office to use every resource available to combat food insecurity across Texas.
We are also creating channels for local action. The county will accept donations from businesses, community partners, and residents to redistribute directly to families in need. We have extended access to electric bill assistance through September 2026 or until funds are exhausted because no one should have to choose between a meal and keeping the lights on.
This is what local leadership looks like, showing up for the people when corrupt politicians like Trump in Washington refuse to.
El Paso has always been a community rooted in compassion and solidarity. While Trump and his allies indulge in spectacle and self-interest, we are choosing empathy, justice, and collective care.
This shutdown is not about policy differences or political games. It is about power, who has it, who abuses it, and who pays the price.
El Paso County will not stand by while working families suffer. We will continue to fight alongside our residents, our workers, and our partners to ensure that no child, no parent, and no senior goes hungry because of the greed and arrogance of a few.
History will remember this moment. And it will remember who stood for the people and who threw parties while they starved.
David Stout is the El Paso County commissioner for Precinct 2.
The post Opinion: Trump’s shutdown starves working families while the wealthy toast themselves appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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