About 42 million Americans are set to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits when federal funding stops Nov. 1 amid the government shutdown.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it would not use emergency funds to help cover benefits and posted a message on its website over the weekend that “the well has run dry.”
SNAP, sometimes called the food stamp program, is a federal safety net program whose eligibility is based on income, household size, and household expenses. About 260,000 retailers, including grocery chains, discount stores and farmers markets, are authorized to accept SNAP benefits and receive reimbursements for doing so.
Congressional Republicans and the USDA have blamed the freeze on Senate Democrats’ unwillingness to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government. Democrats, meanwhile, have stuck to their demands that negotiations on Affordable Care Act subsidies be held before the government reopens.
Some anti-hunger and food insecurity organizations said funding for SNAP already took a hit after President Donald Trump’s mega bill included $186 billion in cuts to the program. Without emergency funds set for November 1, millions of people could be at risk of going hungry, the organizations say.
“If 42 million Americans and more than 260,000 retailers don’t receive $8 billion in food support within a week, we will see the largest hunger crisis since the Great Depression, and that’s not hyperbole. It’s simply true,” Joel Berg, executive director of the nonprofit Hunger Free America, told ABC News.
Americans who receive SNAP benefits told ABC News they are worried about not being able to adequately feed themselves or their families and having to choose between paying for food or paying for household expenses.
A sign alerting customers about SNAP food stamp benefits is displayed at a Brooklyn grocery store on December 5, 2019, in New York.
Scott Heins/Getty Images
‘I don’t want to ask for help’
Martina Santos, 67, of the Bronx, New York, said she receives about $290 a month in SNAP benefits.
If she loses benefits, Santos, a board member and volunteer with the West Side Hunger Campaign, which helps New Yorkers access emergency food, told ABC News she may have to find a food pantry to fill the void the government would leave.
He added that he may have to delay paying some bills because he will have to spend the money he has on food or other living expenses.
“I’m going to be waiting to pay my electric bill and also my internet bill,” Santos said. “I have four children. I don’t want to ask for help. [from] My family. They have their own family. They got their own bills. I don’t want to be on top of them, ‘I need help.’ I need help. “I need help.”
Santos, who said he has high blood pressure and diabetes, said eating healthy foods is an important part of keeping his conditions under control.
She said she worries that not being able to receive SNAP benefits to buy healthy foods could worsen her conditions, and she is considering skipping meals in the worst case scenario.
“I try to eat healthy… to [bring] Low blood sugar levels or my high blood pressure. [down]”said Santos. “For me, there is going to be an impact and [I am] scared by my condition too”
Berg, of Hunger Free America, said charitable food systems such as food pantries, food banks and soup kitchens will do their best to fill the gaps left by the federal safety net freeze.
However, local food programs may not be able to meet the dietary restrictions of Americans who would otherwise use SNAP benefits to purchase food.
“They often can’t provide kosher food. They often can’t provide halal food. They often can’t provide food to diabetics,” he said. “Often… they are forced to provide a lot of ultra-processed foods. So they are not as healthy foods as we would like. I think people think that the charitable food system is much bigger than it is in terms of the overall solution. Charity cannot solve the problem.”
Martina Santos of New York said she might have to postpone paying household bills if her SNAP benefits end.
West Side Campaign Against Hunger
I’m going to have hungry children.
Jenna, a 37-year-old mother of four from northeastern Oklahoma, who asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons, told ABC News that she has been receiving SNAP benefits since 2017.
Jenna said she works full time and runs a tree farm that wholesales directly to retail nurseries, but she sometimes has to miss work because two of her children have special needs.
“They have some mental disabilities and I miss a lot of work due to therapies and appointments, which reduces my monthly income,” she said. “It’s no one’s fault, in particular, but… “I don’t have the opportunity, like some parents, to be off of SNAP.”
“I’m on Facebook. I see all the posts right now saying, ‘It shouldn’t matter that SNAP goes away, because all these people could just look for work,'” Jenna continued. “And I stay on the sidelines, but I work full time and can’t make ends meet because of my children’s needs.”
Jenna said she receives between $600 and $620 a month in SNAP benefits. She said sometimes it lasts all month and other times it lasts two or three weeks because of constantly changing food prices and what her food-averse children eat.
She said when she first heard that SNAP benefits could be stopped in November, she started stocking her freezer with healthy but inexpensive meals like lasagna; sausages, peppers and potatoes; and red beans and rice.
Because they live in a rural area, Jenna said she and her husband have been talking to friends and family who have bread, eggs, meat and other items they could trade to put food on the table.
Jenna said she recently had surgery and was not due to return to work until the end of November, but she will be spending a few hours from home so she can earn extra money for the month, but it may not be enough to provide snacks for her children.
“I was definitely planning on SNAP benefits to help through November,” he said. “So I was definitely already thinking, ‘Okay, we have to keep things cheap… I try to have a lot of healthy snacks at home. I don’t buy cookies, candy, pastries. I buy fresh fruits, string cheese and meat sticks and things that they can snack on that also fill them up and keep them healthier.’
“So it’s definitely going to affect the mood and the pace of the house, because I’m going to have hungry kids who are used to eating berries, cheese, yogurt, and healthy snacks, and I’m not going to have anything extra for them to snack on in addition to breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” Jenna added.
What are groups doing to help fill the gap?
Robert Lewis, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Boston (BGCB), a youth services organization, told ABC News that its organization provides nearly 300,000 meals and snacks every day, and will continue to do so in the absence of SNAP benefits.
He said the organization will also have an event in December, packing 4,000 bags of food to distribute to families, an amount Lewis said will likely need to be increased.
He added that the group is discussing whether its nine locations can become distribution sites to provide additional meals for children and their families and whether it will potentially partner with other nonprofits that may have food but not the ability to distribute it at scale.
Lewis said he feels deeply for families who may not receive benefits in November, especially since he grew up in a family that relied on federal subsidies like SNAP to feed themselves.
A sign alerting customers about SNAP food stamp benefits is displayed at a Brooklyn grocery store on December 5, 2019, in New York.
Scott Heins/Getty Images
“I talked to a group of parents on Friday night and what really struck me is how scared they are,” she told ABC News. “They said they feel like there are a lot of other things to worry about, but they worry: ‘Will we be able to feed our children? Will we be able to provide for our young people?'”
Greg Silverman, executive director and executive director of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger in New York City, said the group plans to massively increase the amount of food it provides to each client.
The organization will serve 110,000 people starting Nov. 1 and is working to ensure healthy food distribution, Silverman said.
“It’s not about weight and junk food. It’s about healthy whole grains and fresh whole grain products and products that are culturally sensitive and nutritionally appropriate for people, and that’s not how our anti-hunger food bank system generally works,” Silverman told ABC News. “At the same time, that’s all well and good, but we will never fill the void that SNAP fills. We can’t; we’re a drop in the bucket compared to SNAP.”
