Will millions of low-income Americans lose food stamps during shutdown?

Millions of low-income Americans could lose access to a monthly benefit that pays for food if the US government shutdown continues.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, provides money for about 42 million people. In a letter from October 10 to October 10, the Department of Agriculture warned that the program would run out of money if benefits were to be paid for in November.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins repeated a false healthcare talking point on X on October 16th, saying that Democrats put their political agenda before food security for American families. Shameful .

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced subsidies for uninsured Americans can be extended as part of the approval process for the government shutdown, but Republicans and Democrats disagree on whether or not to do so before negotiating whether or not to do so.

State-run SNAP is a federal program. A participant’s monthly benefit is typically $ 190, or $ 356, per household, on average. Beneficiaries may use the benefits to purchase bread, bread, meat, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and other foods. The majority of SNAP households are impoverished.

Several times about the shutdown and the Republican tax and spending law that Trump signed in July have been accurately stated by legislators and users of social media. A closer look is available here:

Food stamps will no longer be available on November 1 according to social media posts.

Food stamps are going away as of November 1 according to numerous social media posts.

One Instagram post read, “Let that sink in – just in time for the month of giving thanks.”

Millions of people might be affected by that. Because the month of November is when people receive their benefits, which may not be the case for all of them, it could also occur for some of them throughout November.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, the Trump administration could use SNAP’s contingency fund to pay for nearly two-thirds of a full month’s benefits, or it could transfer other Agriculture Department funds. The administration has announced that it has found funding to continue its low-income families’ Women, Infants, and Children program.

SNAP “shall continue operations during a lapse in appropriations, subject to the availability of funding,” according to an Agriculture Department funding lapse plan.

States were advised to delay taking steps that would result in people receiving their November benefits by an Agriculture Department letter. According to federal regulations, benefits reductions must be made so that higher-income recipients experience lower benefits than lower-income recipients.

We emailed administration officials for more information, but they didn’t respond to our inquiries.

In addition, many state officials, including those in Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin, warned that if the shutdown continues, November could bring with it benefits. Benefits won’t be issued if the shutdown continues into November, according to a Florida Department of Children and Families spokesman.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Wednesday that he will send $80 million in state funds to the National Guard and California Volunteers, a state agency.

In a letter to Rollins on Wednesday, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers stated, “Empty cupboards and stomachs are not abstract outcomes.” They represent the dysfunctional behavior in Washington’s very real and near future. You can prevent these consequences as well as today.

In addition, other Trump administration initiatives have hurt local food banks. The administration earlier this year, according to a report from ProPublica on October 3, cut $500 million in deliveries through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which distributes food to state distribution agencies.

What have some influential lawmakers said about this, and how accurate are their claims?

We are not cutting SNAP, they say.

– US Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on the May 25 television program Face the Nation.

This is untrue.

Johnson addressed the House as a Republican-backed bill that included many of Trump’s policy priorities at the time.

Based on the bill’s changes to work requirements and limitations on states’ ability to waive the work requirements in areas with high unemployment, the nonpartisan number-crunching arm of Congress, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in May that 3.2 million fewer people per month on average would receive SNAP benefits over the next nine years.

According to a more recent CBO analysis from August, the changes would affect 2.4 million people’s SNAP participation.

According to SNAP, “almost 25 percent of every $1 spent goes to farmers and ranchers.”

– Wisconsin representative Francesca Hong poses for a June 12 X position.

This is accurate.

Hong claimed in the a&nbsp, series of X posts that the legislation would not only harm families receiving food aid.

According to a chart released this year by the Economic Research Service of the Agriculture Department, farm businesses will make 24.3% of every dollar spent on home food in 2023, including at grocery stores and supermarkets.

“On SNAP, 20 percent of households with veterans rely,”

– Hakeem Jeffries, the head of the House Democratic, speaking at a press conference on May 8.

Most of the time, this is false.

Veterans who receive SNAP benefits are 80% of them, according to a study conducted on April 2. A share of the state’s stock was higher than 14%. Rates ranged from 4.9% to 6.6% according to studies that used data from a few years earlier.

Source: Aljazeera