Community Health & Wellness

State to fund food banks during suspension of SNAP benefits

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson has directed the state to send $2.2 million per week to food banks, helping them prepare for a potential surge in demand following the suspension of Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits next month.

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More than 900,000 Washington residents are not expected to receive SNAP benefits in November amid the ongoing government shutdown. That includes roughly 41,000 households in Washington’s Sixth Congressional District, which covers the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas, Gig Harbor and part of Tacoma.

Clients shop in Gig Harbor Peninsula FISH food bank’s new building in 2022.

SNAP

In absence of SNAP — a program also referred to as food stamps that helps low-income families afford groceries — many are expected to turn to food banks to meet their needs. It is another way the month-old shutdown has compounded the already skyrocketing demand for food assistance on the Kitsap Peninsula.

Ferguson’s directive calls for sending funds to food banks on Nov. 3, assuming Congress does not reach a deal to open the government. The process would continue weekly for the remainder of the shutdown, his office said in a statement.

“We’re working to mitigate these harms until the Republican-controlled Congress gets the government running again,” Ferguson said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the hard work of local food banks and pantries to help people keep food on the table.”

The United States Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, says funding for benefits would “run dry” on Saturday, Nov. 1. That would leave roughly 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits in limbo.

Partisan back-and-forth

That decision has drawn the ire of Democrats. They point out the agency opted not to follow its own contingency plan – which was removed from its website, according to national media reports – and tap into a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to continue to fund SNAP benefits. A message displayed on the USDA’s website blames Democrats for the shutdown.

“The Trump Administration has the resources and legal authority to provide November SNAP benefits but is choosing not to and letting families go hungry,” U.S. Rep Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, said in a social media post Wednesday.