Two children help their mother pick up food from the Sugartree Ministry food bank in Wilmington, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Ohio SNAP recipient Peaches Calhoun is worried what will happen to her family’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits if the federal government shutdown stretches into November.
Calhoun, a single mother of four children in Columbus, is one of the approximately 1.39 million Ohioans who receive SNAP benefits.
“I’m someone who’s living this currently,” she said Thursday during a press conference at the Statehouse. “Someone who’s seen the fear in her kids faces when there’s more months left than there is money, someone who knows that hunger is not a talking point, it’s a sound, it’s a feeling, it’s a slow ache that lives in your bones.”
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The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1 and SNAP benefits are funded for this month, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a letter on Oct. 10 there “will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation” if the shutdown continues. USDA has also posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not be issued for Nov. 1.
Ohio’s average SNAP benefits are $190 a month, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Spokesperson Tom Betti said.
“The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is closely monitoring the federal shutdown situation,” Betti said in an email. “We’ve not yet received guidance from USDA Food and Nutrition Service beyond that, so we cannot speculate beyond October.”
To qualify for SNAP, Ohioans must have a net income at or below federal poverty guidelines — $32,150 a year for a family of four.
State Rep. Latyna Humphrey, D-Columbus, introduced House Bill 502 earlier this month which would make an appropriation to continue to fund SNAP and some other federal programs if there were to be a lapse in federal funding.
“Grocery stores won’t stop operating,” she said. “The bills won’t stop coming. The babies won’t stop needing formula, and families still have to eat.”
House Bill 502 has had no hearings so far and no hearings on the bill are currently scheduled. Her bill has an emergency measure, meaning it would take effect immediately if it were signed into law.
“We are getting very close to Nov. 1, so I would urge my colleagues on the Republican side to start thinking and getting together and even being willing to work with me, work with us, to get something done so we are prepared if it is Nov. 1 and there is no solution,” Humphrey said. “Maybe my bill won’t be the actual solution, but it is possible to put together a similar bill and fast track it, and get it to the governor’s desk,” she said.
She sent a letter to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday urging him to preserve SNAP benefits.
State Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus, said H.B. 502 is a “ blueprint for how we can solve the problem facing us today.”
“If we love Ohioans, then we have to feed our people,” he said. “It is just that simple.”
The Mid-Ohio Food Collective helps feed more than 5,000 families each day — 58% more families than at the peak of the pandemic, said Mid-Ohio Food Collective Spokesperson Mike Hochron.
“Many of our neighbors are one tough break away from having trouble putting food on their table,” he said. “SNAP helps working families keep food on their table, a roof over their heads and keeps our economy strong. … We are here to help as best we can, but without gap help, and if SNAP benefits are not issued for November, we anticipate the need for services will be far beyond what our food bank and network of interest are able to meet on our own.”
Calhoun criticized President Donald Trump for building a $300 million ballroom at the White House.
“They build ballrooms while I’m building grocery lists that don’t add up,” she said. “How do you have marble floors and empty pantries at the same time?”
The longest government shutdown took place during Trump’s first term as president in 2019 and lasted 35 days.
“It’s now the second longest shutdown in our nation’s history and without immediate intervention from our state and federal elected leaders, it will be the most devastating,” said Franklin County Commissioner Erica Crawley.
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