"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 government says an emergency fund it will use has $4.65 billion - enough to cover about half the normal benefits."
""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."
SNAP will receive partial funding for November after court orders required continued operation. The USDA had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown. The program serves about one in eight Americans and costs over $8 billion per month. An emergency fund of $4.65 billion is available, enough to cover about half of normal benefits. Exhausting that fund could create similar shortfalls in December if the shutdown continues. Exact benefit amounts and timing of debit-card deposits remain unclear, and millions of November payments have already been delayed. Recipients are turning to food banks and stretching grocery budgets; some fear insufficient food for children.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]