After food banks and SNAP recipients spent weeks preparing for the suspension of federal food assistance, benefits appeared to be partially restored Monday. But this glitch is already crippling the normally resilient program.
Trump administration on Monday agreed to partially finance The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, after two court cases challenged the end of benefits. In a court filing, the administration said it would use $4.65 billion in reserve funds this month to cover about half of the benefits for eligible households. However, after that, the benefits are expected to dry up.
This is the first time SNAP recipients will be without some of their benefits during the government shutdown. Funding for the program was due to resume on Saturday, so many people have gone several days without the money they were counting on. It's still unclear how quickly electronic benefit cards will be reloaded—the process of getting money onto the cards often takes a week or more in states—and families don't yet know the exact amounts they'll receive.
For many, the SNAP suspension was one of the worst consequences of the program's closure: The prospect of losing food funds sparked panic last week among many recipients who lined up at food banks and began rationing what was left in their pantries. Politicians pointed fingers Some state leaders are raising emergency funds to fill huge gaps. Misinformation circulated online, including racist language and fake videos.
Until Monday, the Department of Agriculture said it could not legally use reserve funds to keep SNAP running during the shutdown, but a federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday ordered the Trump administration to provide at least partial funding for SNAP.
For many recipients, partial benefits are unlikely to last for a month—even with a full allocation, they typically run out before the end of the month. Nearly 42 million Americans rely on SNAP assistance, and about 4 out of 5 of these households including a child, elderly person or person with a disability.
Recipients across the country are receiving their benefits at different times of the monthso not everyone is facing a shortage yet. As the specter of famine looms large across the country, at least nine governors declared an emergency due to potential loss of benefits. California, Iowa, Nevada and West Virginia have trained their state's National Guard to help distribute food. And about 30 states have released funds to support food banks or compensate for the loss of SNAP benefits.
Democrats and Republicans blame each other for the chaos caused by SNAP. The Trump administration said Democrats could prevent funding from running out by agreeing to a short-term measure that Republicans have already passed; this will maintain SNAP and government funding through November 21st. Democrats say Republicans need to take action on health insurance premiums, which will skyrocket later this year as part of any deal to end the shutdown.
