Oct. 23 (UPI) — On Nov. 1, millions of Americans will lose their SNAP benefits, which provide food assistance to low-income families.
According to Politico, 25 states have reported they will have to cut funding if the federal government doesn’t reopen by then.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told reporters that President Donald Trump is the “first president in U.S. history to cut off SNAP benefits to people in America.”
“The state funding can’t begin to match what the federal government provides,” she added
The federal government would have to add $8 billion to keep SNAP going during the shutdown.
“We just can’t do it without the government being open,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday. “By Nov. 1, we are very hopeful this government reopens and we can begin moving that money out. But right now, half the states are shut down on SNAP.”
Local food banks are going to have to meet the needs of those who lose their benefits. Many of them rely on federal grants to fund them, which won’t happen during the shutdown.
“The longer it continues, the harder it is for nonprofits to continue services in their communities,” Sarah Saadian, senior vice president of public policy and campaigns at the National Council of Nonprofits, told NBC. “Most nonprofits are small and have limited budgets that they stretch and try to make work; they are not sitting on a large cushion of resources.”
Even when the government reopens, 22.3 million families will lose some or all of their SNAP benefits because of the “big beautiful bill,” which gave the largest cut to SNAP in history, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Urban Institute, CNBC reported.
