Gina Plata-Nino, interim director for SNAP at the Food Research & Action Center, urged Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins Monday to utilize her authority to issue federal food aid “regardless of what’s going on with the shutdown.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said federal food aid will not go out on Nov. 1, after the administration said it would not use contingency funds to maintain benefits. The USDA has said the funds are only for disaster situations and are not eligible to cover benefits. One in eight Americans depend on SNAP benefits, with 40 million Americans covered.
Plata-Nino, who leads the nonprofit focused on ending hunger, said on “CBS Mornings Plus” that the situation is “incredibly serious.”
“The people relying on this benefit are our most vulnerable. For the most part they’re making less than $1,000 a month,” Plata-Niño said. “This means that they may not be able to pay their rent, they may not be able to pay childcare, they may not be able to have food on the table for their children when they come home. And this will set them back.”
Plata-Niño said “these are individuals who are living paycheck to paycheck,” including veterans, older adults and people with disabilities.
“This program’s supposed to be supplemental, but for many people, this is their sole food budget,” she said.
During the 2018-2019 government shutdown, which lasted 34 days, the administration was able to utilize appropriated funding to issue benefits ahead of time, Plata-Niño outlined. But the USDA said it won’t release emergency funds to cover the benefits shortfall this time around.
Plata-Niño argued “the Nutrition Act is clear — the secretary has the authority, has the contingency fund that Congress gives her to be able to utilize it at such a time as this, which is the entitlement program so that benefits could be funded and not delayed.”
“This is a man-made disaster that could be easily avoided,” Plata-Niño said.
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