U.S. states are warning food aid recipients their benefits may not be distributed beginning Saturday if the federal government shutdown stretches into its fourth week.
Warnings issued on at least two dozen state websites flag the potential for an unprecedented benefit gap in November for Americans who get aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, and the nearly seven million who receive aid from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record.
Lower-income families who qualify for SNAP receive debit cards loaded each month by the federal government that work only for groceries at participating stores and farmers’ markets. It provided an average of $187 a month to 41.7 million people, affecting about one in eight Americans
In the accounting year that ended on Sept. 30, 2024, SNAP cost just over $100 billion, including the half of state administrative costs covered by federal taxpayers.
States limited in trying to fill the breach.Democratic senators, House representatives and mayors wrote Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to fund November benefits using a SNAP contingency fund estimated by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to contain about $5 billion. That amounts to 60 per cent of the cost of one month of the benefits.
But on Friday, the USDA said it would not tap into the funds and instead would reserve them for responding to natural disasters and other emergencies.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” a notice from the department said. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”
The unusually politicized message from a government agency reflects the fact that Democrats have withheld votes on a spending bill. Democrats say they will not agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that will expire for millions of Americans at the end of the year.
Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut accused Republicans and President Donald Trump of not agreeing to negotiate.
“The reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly,” Murphy said Sunday on CNN. “We could open up the government on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there wouldn’t be any crisis in the food stamp program.”
In the absence of federal action, some states have stepped in.
California and New York said they would send money to food banks. Virginia on Thursday declared a state of emergency to fund November benefits.
But others have found little option for aiding SNAP recipients. Alaska’s Department of Health website said the agency .
