A woman shops at the Feeding South Florida pantry in Pembroke Park, Florida this month. Food banks across the country are bracing for huge demand due to the interruption of federal food aid due to the government shutdown. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
There’s no way local governments can fill the void left by the disruption of the federal food stamp program, but local official Gregg Wright says his Minnesota county had to do something.
“It’s actually a crisis for families,” said Wright, a member of the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners.
Last week, the board voted unanimously to send up to $200,000 to the local food bank to lend a hand neighbors at risk of losing food assistance due to the federal government shutdown.
Olmsted County, which has a population of about 165,000 and is home to the notable Mayo Clinic in Rochester, expects to lose about $1.7 million a month in benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP. It’s a predicament facing leaders across the country as they prepare for an unprecedented pause in the nation’s largest food assistance program as the shutdown drags on.
While attorneys general and governors from 25 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, in an attempt to force him to pay next month’s SNAP benefits, the administration says it won’t release the funds until Congress resolves the budget impasse.
That has food banks, food pantries and local governments scrambling to prepare for the onslaught of demand. States are declaring emergencies, deploying National Guard members, and sending millions of taxpayer dollars to local food banks. Nonprofits are preparing for long lines, empty shelves and even panic and civil unrest as an estimated 42 million Americans will lose access to the safety net program within days.
“The enormity of this problem is almost hard to comprehend,” said Wright, who noted that his county is one of more than 3,000 across the country.
The local food bank estimated it could serve SNAP families for one month by spending about $400,000 on bulk food purchases. Instead of donating the entire amount, the county board challenged community members to raise another $200,000.
Wright said the county doesn’t have the ability to fund food assistance for long.
“We can’t continue this without raising taxes because it’s not in our budget,” he said. “…Who could have planned this? Who would have expected it to come from the federal government?”
Minnesota is among 10 states where counties, rather than state governments, administer food stamp programs. Across the country, state and county governments are redirecting local resources to try to fill the gap left by plant closures.
California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom overturned that decision 80 million dollars with state funds and sent members of the National Guard to lend a hand food banks.
Republican Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin declared the state emergencyclaiming that the commonwealth would exploit its own funds to temporarily lend a hand SNAP recipients.
IN Louisianastate leaders are preparing to exploit $150 million a month to continue SNAP aid, while Nevada plans to donate $38.8 million to local food banks.
Democratic Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz announced that the state would change its mind $4 million to food shelves across the state.
“This is supposed to be a bridge,” Walz said during a press conference on Monday. “It won’t make up or fulfill everything.”
Food banks across the country are already struggling to cope with increased demand.
Who could plan this? Who would have expected this to come from the federal government?
– Gregg Wright, Olmsted County, Minnesota, Commissioner
Virginia Witherspoon, executive director of the Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester, Minn., said the phone “stopped ringing” last week. The nonprofit distributes food to partners in 14 counties and operates its own food shelf in Rochester. Witherspoon said last month the pantry averaged about 450 families a day, but last week it was averaging 550 families.
“I don’t blame anyone who rushes to their local food shelf and stock up because they fear they won’t be able to feed their families,” she told Stateline. “I would like to say that Minnesota food shelves – we are here, we are open, we want to serve you. We are doing everything we can.”
However, Channel One and other operators are concerned about the possibility of panic among families looking for food.
Witherspoon told the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners that her organization is considering requesting a police presence but wants to be cautious about the message it sends to the public. She said even increasing food distribution from once to twice a week could cause people to rush.
She said it reminded her of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when she appeared on local television to tell people not to worry, even though privately she was worried about running out of food.
“It’s difficult. On the one hand, I’m publicly screaming the alarm at you, our donors and our government,” she told commissioners. “But on the other hand, we don’t want to cause panic among the public and have everyone come to the store at once. It’s really not a good situation, and we’ve never been here before.”
The federal funding debate
The troubles facing nonprofits and local governments are unprecedented: Food stamps have not been disrupted during other government shutdowns. Even the Trump administration previously said it would exploit the multi-year emergency fund to continue paying SNAP benefits.
Administration overturned that was his stance on Friday, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would not release funds in November and warned states they would not be reimbursed for spending their own revenues on the food program.
SNAP has an emergency fund of about $6 billion, less than the roughly $9 billion needed to cover an entire month of the program.
It’s unclear what the administration’s stance means for states that have already started setting aside their own dollars.
Following Virginia declaration of a state of emergencyVirginia’s newly created Emergency Assistance program is expected to send money to SNAP beneficiaries starting November 3.
The governor estimates that approximately $37.5 million per week will be allocated to the state of Virginia 850,000 SNAP recipients, Virginia Mercury reported.
Neither the governor’s office nor the Virginia Department of Human Services responded to Stateline’s requests for comment.
North Dakota officials said they have enough cash to cover November SNAP benefits but are unable to transfer funds to citizens’ electronic payment cards, North Dakota Monitor reported.
State and federal lawmakers, advocates and attorneys general across the country have urged the administration to release November SNAP funds.
Last week, the chief executive of the National Conference of State Legislatures asked the USDA for the release clear directions on the ability of countries to spend and be reimbursed for ongoing administrative costs.
Democratic North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, one of the officials who sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, said 1.4 million people — including nearly 600,000 children — would lose SNAP assistance in his state.
“They have emergency money that can help feed their children during the shutdown, but they don’t want to spend it.”
Contingency plans
In New Hampshire, Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte announced the creation of the state “contingency plan” to lend a hand SNAP recipients. Pending approval from other state leaders, the plan would provide $2 million to the New Hampshire Food Bank to open up to 20 locations to SNAP recipients twice a week for the next five weeks.
Officials in Ayotte’s office and the state health department did not respond to Stateline’s requests for comment.
Elsy Cipriani, executive director of the New Hampshire Food Bank, said the organization is still working through the details with the state. She said the group would likely ask to see electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards – debit cards that people exploit to access SNAP benefits at grocery stores – to ensure that food purchased by the state goes to SNAP recipients.
“While we have no intention of replacing SNAP benefits – because we can’t; we can’t replace it in any way – we do hope to provide some relief,” she told Stateline.
In Minnesota, county leaders in some areas are working overtime to answer questions for SNAP recipients and lend a hand them find other food assistance.
This additional workload does not come with state or federal reimbursement, said Tina Schenk, director of health and human services in rural Meeker County.
“It’s just a response to our community because that’s our job,” she said. “But it’s a completely different job than usual.”
Meeker County’s reserve funds, home to about 23,000 people, are not huge enough to cover even the monthly amount of SNAP benefits, Schenk said. That’s why county staff is working with local nonprofits and reaching out to families most impacted by the interruption of benefits to connect them with other state grant programs.
Schenk said the only local food shelf is increasing its orders through the central food bank – as is almost every other facility in the state.
“Will they have enough to fulfill these orders? That’s a question I don’t know the answer to.”
Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at: khardy@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by state linewhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
