SNAP Benefits Lapse for the First Time as Shutdown Drags On

For the first time, according to the states’ lawsuit as reported by CBS News, the federal government did not send out November food assistance on schedule. The Agriculture Department said in a memo that no Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits would be issued on Nov. 1, because the shutdown that began Oct. 1 has left the program without money, according to CBS News. About 42 million Americans use SNAP, with an average benefit of $187 a month, CBS and PBS NewsHour both reported.

The administration and its critics disagree about whether other money can be used. The department says a contingency reserve cannot legally cover full monthly benefits. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said there are not “just pots of $9.2 billion sitting around,” and argued that the department lacks authority to move funds into the program, according to PBS. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated the reserve at $5 billion to $6 billion, a little more than half of the roughly $8 billion needed for the month. Georgetown law professor David Super told PBS the administration has “sweeping authority” to transfer money.

Courts have pushed the department. On Friday, federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled that the administration must use contingency funds to pay at least partial benefits, CBS reported, and the government must respond by Monday on whether it will do so. A separate lawsuit by officials from 25 states and the District of Columbia was filed earlier in the week. Recipients can keep spending balances already on their cards, and unspent October dollars carry over, CBS said.

States have moved to fill gaps, with mixed capacity. CBS reported that Louisiana’s governor signed an emergency declaration, Vermont lawmakers approved money to cover benefits through Nov. 15, New York’s governor set aside $30 million, and California’s governor said he would speed $80 million to food banks and call on the National Guard to help them. PBS reported that Virginia and Delaware declared emergencies and plan to pay recipients 25 percent of their benefits each week, while Maryland and Colorado each directed $10 million to nonprofits. The department has told states they should not expect to be reimbursed, CBS and PBS both reported.

Food banks, already stretched, warned they cannot absorb the demand. “You cannot crowdsource $8 billion to prevent the harm that will come from the failure,” said Lauren Bauer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, according to PBS. Lizbeth Ginsburg of Greater Boston Legal Services told CBS that it is her understanding that benefits will be issued retroactively once the shutdown ends, though the department has not confirmed that.

The lapse follows the shutdown that began Oct. 1, and until Congress ends it, the question of when the money will flow falls largely to the courts.