Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
Concern is growing in Louisiana that money for food stamps could run out late next week if the federal government shutdown continues, interrupting a program that helps pay for groceries for roughly 800,000 people in the state. The lack of funding for food assistance programs would hit people during a month with a major holiday, when kids are home from school and families are trying to plan a Thanksgiving meal, said Susan East Nelson, executive director of the Louisiana Partnership for Children and Families. “Kids aren’t going to have the food that they need right at the time as they’re not going to be in school because of the holiday,” she said. “You’re going to have kids who go without food.” The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides monthly benefits to low-income people to help cover the cost of groceries, is funded by the federal government and administered by states. Roughly 40 million Americans get food benefits through SNAP, including over 800,000 people in Louisiana — about 17% of the state’s population. Federal officials earlier this month warned that funds for SNAP could run out if the government shutdown persisted into November. On Oct. 10, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program at the federal level, sent a letter to states saying, “if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.” USDA in the communication directed states to put November benefits on hold “until further notice.” The Louisiana Department of Health, which recently took over the administration of SNAP from the Department of Children and Family Services, did not respond to questions for this story. Pat Van Burkleo, executive director of Feeding Louisiana, which represents the state’s five regional food banks, warned that Louisiana’s food banks don’t have capacity to service everyone on food stamps. “For every one meal that the food banks provide, SNAP usually provides nine,” he said. There isn’t enough food in their warehouses to do 10 times the amount of distribution they typically handle, he added. Both Van Burkleo and East Nelson said the lack of SNAP funds will strain grocers and other food retailers, too. “The retailers are the people who get the money from SNAP. So if there are no SNAP benefits, the retailers are going to see the loss,” East Nelson said. Swaths of the federal government shut down on Oct. 1 after lawmakers in Congress couldn’t reach a deal on a short-term spending bill to fund federal agencies through Nov. 21. Democrats in the U.S. Senate for weeks have been withholding their support for the Republican spending bill and demanding Republicans agree to extend tax credits that subsidize health insurance for millions of Americans covered through the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have said negotiations on the tax credits can happen once the short-term funding bill passes. For now, discussions on the funding bill appear stalled. During a shutdown, non-essential government work is paused and hundreds of thousands of federal employees are furloughed. Many functions continue, however, like air traffic control, military and public health. The Medicare and Medicaid programs also continue uninterrupted. Van Burkleo said that based on discussions with officials at the Louisiana Department of Health, the agency is exploring ways to get food to people who need it next month. “They are very concerned about this, and I think they are going to try to figure out a way to make Louisiana whole,” he said.
