"The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it during the federal government shutdown. The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation's social safety net. It costs more than $8 billion per month nationally."
"The Trump Administration has the means to fund this program in full, and their decision not to will leave millions of Americans hungry and waiting even longer for relief as government takes the additional steps needed to partially fund this program, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who led a coalition of Democratic state officials in one of the lawsuits that forced the funding, said in a statement."
"The government says an emergency fund it will use has $4.65 billion enough to cover about half the normal benefits. RELATED: How to help: Where the hungry can find food and others can give as SNAP benefits cut off Exhausting the fund potentially sets the stage for a similar situation in December if the shutdown isn't resolved by then."
Federal officials will partially fund SNAP after judges ordered the program to continue. USDA had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because of the federal government shutdown. SNAP serves about one in eight Americans and costs more than $8 billion per month. An emergency fund of $4.65 billion is available, enough to cover roughly half of normal benefits and possibly leave December at risk if the shutdown continues. November payments are delayed for millions of recipients and exact amounts and timing of partial payments remain unclear. Many beneficiaries are turning to food banks and stretching grocery budgets.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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