The Trump administration agreed Monday to partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, amid the ongoing government shutdown.
SNAP feeds nearly 42 million Americans. As federal money ran out this past weekend, two federal judges ruled that the federal government must continue funding SNAP on an emergency basis.
SNAP recipients get electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, cards for grocery shopping that automatically reload each month. With the federal government’s partial funding, each recipient will get half their usual benefit.
NPR’s Jennifer Ludden said she talked with SNAP recipients in line for a food donation center over the weekend, and some had seen their EBT balance reduced to nothing before the government decided to resume payments.
Kenneth Addison is one of those people. He’s older and disabled, and he told Ludden that he usually received $296 for food every month. Last month, it was cut to $68. This month, he initially got nothing.
Ludden said Addison was in the hospital for a few weeks recently. When he got home, his refrigerator was empty, and he had no way to fill it besides food banks.
A different woman Ludden spoke with said she got her benefits as usual and stocked up on groceries just in case they disappeared.
In the federal confusion, some state governments stepped up to fill the funding gaps, taking measures like bolstering food bank inventory or offering protections for people who might fall behind on their bills, Ludden said.
“ If people don’t have enough to eat or even a proper diet, especially if they have illness, it could lead to other problems, health problems that could land them in the emergency room or eviction if they have to choose between food and paying rent,” Ludden said. “So there’s a real local and state push to prevent ripple effects like that.”
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James Perkins Mastromarino produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Catherine Welch. Grace Griffin produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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