The food-stamp program, the largest U.S. anti-hunger initiative, will stop distributing benefits if there is no budget agreement and the federal government shuts down on Oct. 1 for the second time in three years, said the USDA. “Once that occurs, families won’t be able to use these benefits at grocery stores to buy the food their families need.” Some 45.5 million people received food stamps at latest count, with an average benefit of $126.23 per month. During the 2013 shutdown, the USDA relied on contingency funds to keep the program operating.
“But we are in a different position this time around,” said Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, because the USDA has no reserve to tap. He warned, “We’re going to be shutting down food stamps …. This is a widespread impact.” Merkley and Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the Democratic leader on the Agriculture Committee, which oversees food stamps, said lawmakers were obliged to agree on funding the government.
If there is a shutdown, the USDA would cut off food stamp benefits “within the first several days of October,” said a department spokesperson. The USDA, like other branches of the federal government, was drafting plans for a shutdown. Meat inspectors stayed on the job in 2013 and are likely to be told to report to work if there is a new shutdown. The spokesperson did not respond directly to questions about which programs would be considered essential services and which would be shuttered. The October crop report was cancelled in 2013, the first cancellation ever.
“The best way to ensure SNAP recipients receive support is to vote for the CR. I will,” said Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, in a tweet, referring to a short-term “continuing resolution” to fund the government while budget negotiations continue.
The Republican-backed continuing resolution would deny funding to Planned Parenthood. The resolution, to run through Dec. 11, authorizes the USDA to operate the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and to pay rural rental assistance contracts, according to a Senate Appropriations Committee summary.