As the federal government shutdown extends to day 17, and with congressional leaders nowhere near negotiating, state officials are beginning to raise concerns of potential cuts to nutrition assistance benefits that feed millions if the government isn’t reopened.
Minnesota has already halted new enrollments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. And officials in Kansas, New Hampshire and New Mexico have warned their residents could miss their food assistance payments for November.
More than 42 million Americans rely on the program, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture administers. The federal government funds nearly all the program benefits, with states administering the program.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins warned Thursday that SNAP will run out of funds in two weeks if Congress fails to strike a deal and end the government shutdown.
“You’re talking about millions and millions of vulnerable families of hungry families that are not going to have access to these programs because of this shutdown,” she said outside the White House Thursday.
USDA could not be reached for comment Friday.
USDA has directed regional SNAP directors to stop working on benefits for November, according to an Oct. 10 letter obtained by Politico, written by the program’s acting associate administrator, Ronald Ward.
“Considering the operational issues and constraints that exist in automated systems, and in the interest of preserving maximum flexibility, we are forced to direct States to hold their November issuance files and delay transmission to State EBT vendors until further notice,” Ward wrote. “This includes on-going SNAP benefits and daily files.”
USDA has already shuffled more than $300 million in tariff revenue into the agency’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, through the rest of the month.
The shutdown started Oct. 1 after Congress failed to find a bipartisan path forward on a stopgap spending bill.
Senate Democrats have pushed for negotiations to extend the enhanced tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year for people who buy their health insurance from the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Republicans have insisted on passing the House’s version of the stopgap funding bill that does not address insurance premiums.
–Ariana Figueroa, Florida Phoenix
JimboXYZ says
How did America become a recipient culture in the last 5 years ? Biden-Harris, the Bidenomics of America. How can we ever thank him for 50+ years of service ? Oh I know, we can make sure Biden gets his $ 400K/year pension check, send $ 250K to that worthless ex-VPOTUS Harris ?
Laurel says
Um, Jimboxyz, at some point, you need to get over Biden and Harris. Your fixation is yours alone, and fixations are not necessarily healthy.
The fact of the matter is, both political parties are failing us. Social Security is expected to run out of money in approximately eight years, and this formula has been known for decades. Yet, neither side has fixed it, or really even tried, when actually it could be fixed. Medicaid has be attacked, and Medicare is in the process of attack, and again, no repair in sight.
Both parties take big money from special interest groups for their campaigns. Citizens United was a huge mistake. Elon Musk blatantly hands out $1,000,000 checks to people who vote the way he wants. Insanity, and corruption.
Look at it this way. If a billionaire, or a big corporation, donates money to both parties, then the donor wins either way! Whether you like it or not, both parties are beholden. Billionaires and Corporations rule this country.
If you really want to make America great again, challenge and reverse the Citizens United Supreme Court decisions, and make donations, affordable to the general public, and vote out all politicians who are happy to take large donations, local and up.
Deborah Coffey says
Trump just gave $40 BILLION of our tax dollars to a friendly dictator in Argentina! But, he’s got no money to feed the hungry? He can’t afford federal workers to watch over our nuclear weapons? Or, money for special Ed children? Or, healthcare for 20 million Americans? And, he’s into killing people in speed boats…whoever they are. And, instead of protecting us, he’s sending the military into our cities to drag us out of cars, out of schools, out of Home Depots, off the streets (depending on our color) to hogtie and arrest us. He and his cronies are loathsome, greedy, corrupt human beings.