The recent federal government shutdown in the United States, which lasted for 43 days, resulted in a disruption to SNAP benefits, leaving millions without access to full aid.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program faced severe operational strain during the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. This was worrisome because SNAP provided monthly food benefits to low-income individuals and families.
Disruption to SNAP Benefits
The assistance would help families purchase nutritious food using an Electric Benefit Card (EBC), which functions like a debit card, and can be used at grocery stores and farmers' markets.
All of these benefits are funded entirely through federal appropriations, where Congress needs to pass a spending bill for the Department of Agriculture. The latter is the one responsible for managing SNAP and its funding, as well as the distribution of benefits.
The latest government shutdown prevented Congress from approving the annual appropriations that are required to fund federal programs. This left the Department of Agriculture unable to legally distribute the monthly benefits for SNAP, according to Elestoque.
The Department of Agriculture intended to freeze payments to SNAP on Nov. 1, but two federal judges ruled on Oct. 31 that the Trump administration is required to continue benefits for November. This would be done by drawing from the agency's contingency fund, which has around $5 billion.
The program serves an estimated one in eight Americans, and requires a monthly funding of $8 billion to provide assistance across the country. Because of the recent lack of funding, food banks in the U.S. reported a 1,800 percent increase in the number of families visiting.
A New Change
In New York, roughly 3 million people rely on monthly SNAP benefits, and with funding being disrupted, the need for mutual aid has gone up significantly. An outreach specialist at the United Way of the Adirondack Region, Randi Christodoulou, said that food-related issues increased due to the delay, heat, and SNAP benefits, MYNBC5 reported.
The federal government is once again planning to make changes to SNAP by targeting permanent residents, or green card holders. This group of individuals includes refugees and people who were granted asylum.
In response, Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown, along with 21 other states' attorneys general, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. They assert that the potential change is illegal.
Brown's office said in a Nov. 26 press release that the government's memo "incorrectly asserted that all individuals who entered the country through these humanitarian pathways would remain permanently ineligible for SNAP," as per NWAsianWeekly.
