A “SNAP welcomed here” sign is seen at the entrance to a Big Lots store in Portland, Oregon. (Getty Images)
The political fallout from the ongoing federal government shutdown continued Monday in Georgia, as Democrats pushed to protect America’s largest food assistance program while Republicans deflected blame onto Democrats in Washington.
Georgia SNAP seeks at least $60 million after federal budget cuts
The latest clash stemming from the federal shutdown centers on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. The SNAP program is set to run out of funds on Nov. 1, meaning that as many as 1.4 million Georgians who rely on the aid could face the abrupt loss of benefits starting this weekend. Though the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, currently has about $6 billion in a contingency fund, the department has said it will not use the money to help fund the program during the shutdown.
State Sen. Nikki Merritt, a Grayson Democrat who chairs the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, urged Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to help fund the program during a Monday press conference at the state Capitol in Atlanta.
“This shutdown threatens to push vulnerable families even closer to the edge,” Merritt said. “As state leaders, we cannot stand idly by while Georgians endure the ripple effects of political inaction in Washington.”
State Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, a Duluth Democrat, led a separate effort and sent a letter to Kemp requesting he declare a state of emergency in response to what she called the “ongoing Trump shutdown.” Parkes urged Kemp to use the state’s $14.6 billion surplus to provide temporary relief. She said that her constituents have already reached out with concerns about how they will feed their families if they lose SNAP benefits next month.
“Food is not optional and we have a moral obligation to see to it that Georgia families do not go hungry,” Parkes said in a statement.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock joined a coalition of Democratic senators in Washington to press the Trump administration to “sustain” the food assistance program. In a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Democratic senators said they were alarmed that the USDA had instructed states to stop processing November benefits, claiming the agency has “several tools available” to avert a lapse in grocery assistance for American families.
The senators called on the agency to utilize the USDA’s “existing authority,” including its contingency funding and interchange authority, which Democratic senators said allows the transfer of funds from other USDA nutrition programs to SNAP, to ensure benefits continue through November.
But Kemp blamed the impasse on the Democratic leadership in Congress just moments after the Department of Human Services announced Friday it would not administer SNAP benefits in November. He called on Senate Democrats to pass the continuing resolution Republicans passed out of the House, arguing it was “past time … to get back to working for the people of our state.”
“As the impacts of the Schumer shutdown are becoming clearer for Georgians, Democrats like Senators Ossoff and Warnock still refuse to do their jobs and open the government,” Kemp said in a statement Friday. The political stalemate leaves over one million Georgians, including 640,000 children, at risk of hunger. Kemp’s office has not returned a request for comment or publicly indicated whether the governor intends to declare a state of emergency or allocate state funds for the federal program.
Federal food aid for over one million Georgians to stop Nov. 1 because of shutdown
However, coming up with funding for the program is only part of the problem, since the infrastructure used to issue SNAP funding to residents is controlled by the federal government. Some states, including North Dakota, have been unable to load state funding onto participants’ electronic payment cards, according to state officials.
The Georgia Department of Human Services, which helps disperse federal SNAP funds to Georgia residents, did not respond to an email inquiry about Georgia’s SNAP infrastructure.
Nov. 1 also marks the first day of open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, a program whose rising costs are at the center of the shutdown as federal enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of this year. If Congress does not extend the credits, Americans could see their monthly insurance premiums more than double on average, according to the nonpartisan health organization KFF. Congressional Democrats have said they will not support a GOP path to reopen the government unless Republicans agree to negotiate on rising health care costs.
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