Comptroller, Lawmakers Urge Moore To Cover Potential Lost SNAP Dollars With State Funds

By Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters

October 30, 2025

Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) joined state lawmakers Wednesday pushing for state action to make up for federal food assistance that may run dry beginning this weekend.

Lierman joined lawmakers, both Democratic and Republican, who believe that the state should step in and cover lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits while the federal government is shut down and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is refusing to release funds for the program.

During a virtual meeting with lawmakers Wednesday, Lierman said she hopes “that our state will act to extend SNAP benefits for the month of November,” because a disruption in the federally funded food assistance program would have ripple effects on Maryland’s economy.

“Because of its immediate impact on our most vulnerable residents, on businesses that are just scraping by, on some of our most historically challenged communities, and recognizing the cascading impact of these cuts on Maryland’s economy,” she said, “I do hope that our state will act to extend SNAP benefits for the month of November. And I certainly hope, through legal action, we can recoup that funding.”

More than 680,000 Marylanders who currently receive SNAP benefits are expected to lose those food assistance dollars over the month of November. They are among 41 million SNAP recipients nationwide who would be affected.

In previous shutdowns, the federal government would continue to pay for SNAP out of USDA contingency funds, to ensure that low-income families and other struggling households could continue to afford food.

State officials, advocates brace for SNAP dollars ending for 680,000 Marylanders
But after funding benefits when the government was shut down in October, the Trump administration reversed course and announced last week that it is unable to continue funding SNAP next month, unless Congress agrees on a budget — and it may not reimburse states that decide to fill the gap in the meantime.

More than two dozen states, including Maryland, this week sued the Trump administration in hopes of forcing the government to pay for SNAP amid the shutdown. In the meantime, a handful of governors in other states have signaled they will use state funds to cover SNAP regardless.
Maryland’s top budget lawmakers believe that Gov. Wes Moore (D) should do the same, by tapping into the state’s Rainy Day fund that is projected to close fiscal 2026 with a balance of $2.25 billion, according to state analysts.

House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) thinks that “680,000 people losing their benefits is an emergency” and that state officials have good reason to use the Rainy Day fund.

“I want to be crystal clear, this committee, this House … believes that we should extend this benefit on a monthly basis – for the month of November and potentially through December,” Barnes said Wednesday. “I think you don’t have to have been poor to know that going hungry creates real hardship. And being poor through the holidays and not having a meal on Thanksgiving creates lasting trauma, particularly for children.”

Senate Budget and Taxation Vice Chair Jim Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) agreed.
“I’m a hawk on protecting the Rainy Day fund,” Rosapepe said. “This clearly is a five-star hurricane for poor people who need food, so I’m totally on board.”

State data shows that in August, $123.2 million in SNAP benefits were distributed to 371,522 households in Maryland, helping 668,162 people afford food that month.

Based on the August figures, analysts with the Department of Legislative Services say that covering SNAP benefits for both November and December would require around $250 million.

Del. Jefferson L. Ghrist (R-Upper Shore) supports using state funds to cover a lapse in SNAP coverage, even if he places the blame of the shutdown on Democrats in Congress.

“As a fiscal conservative, the Rainy Day fund should be used for just that. It should be used to deal with an emergency situation – here we are,” he said. “These are oftentimes single working moms, folks with developmental disabilities. These are folks who are senior citizens that can’t help themselves.

“I hope the Moore administration hears us clearly – that this is a bipartisan effort to make sure that these folks are taken care of, at least temporarily,” Ghrist said.

It’s not just Ghrist. House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) says the “ball is in the Moore Administration’s court.”

“Republicans want to see children, families, seniors, and the disabled who truly deserve these safety net benefits receive them without interruption,” Buckel said in a written statement. “There certainly are sufficient reserves available to Governor Moore to pay some level of SNAP benefits for a period of time until the bickering politicians in DC can straighten themselves out and get the federal government running again reasonably, just as Governor Youngkin has done in Virginia.”

Gov. Wes Moore (D) has so far offered few details on how he plans to address the potential loss of benefits, saying the state is committed to doing what it can to pick up lost federal benefits, but also warning that no state has the ability to fully cover federal programs.

Not only does SNAP help struggling families put food on the table, Lierman said it is one of the “highest short-term economic multipliers,” meaning that every SNAP dollar spent generates additional economic activity as it moves through grocery stores, food retailers and the community.

“I should add that the economic activity from SNAP generates approximately $289 million in state tax revenue,” Lierman told lawmakers. She added that small grocery stores and food retailers will lose significant business if SNAP recipients are not buying food with their benefits.

David Romans, a Department of Legislative Services budget analyst, said that the “simplest” option for the state to fill in SNAP dollars would be for Moore to declare a state of emergency and tap into the Rainy Day funds.

But the administration appears hesitant. Acting Budget Secretary Jake Weissmann agreed Wednesday that the state has the funds to backfill SNAP funding, but said the “conversations we’re having within the Moore-Miller administration are broader than SNAP.”

Shutdown double whammy: SNAP food benefits ending and federal workers go unpaid

“I want to provide you with a larger picture,” Weissmann told lawmakers. “We are in month 10 of a four-year term, and we are going to continue to face these challenges for the next three years.

“The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is close to running out,” Weissmann said. “There are growing questions about Headstart and there are real, valid concerns whether this [Trump] administration threatens Medicaid funding sometime in the near future. We’re also facing over a $1 billion shortfall next year.

“That’s why this administration is taking a week-by-week approach to this,” he said. “With all the outstanding questions, we have to move carefully to protect Marylanders.”

Weissman said that the administration would have more to share “in the next 24 hours.” Barnes questioned the delay and the lack of direct information from Weissmann and Moore.

“You know the comments here today are woefully inadequate and we’re not really getting much information – but I guess we’ll stay tuned for the next 24 hours,” Barnes said.

Moore is scheduled to hold a news conference Thursday to “announce executive action” regarding SNAP and programs affected by the government shutdown.

Earlier Wednesday, reporters asked Moore to clarify how he’ll handle the missing SNAP funds if they run out this weekend. He stuck to his position that federal dollars should fund the benefit while the government is shut down. But he did not answer whether he will tap state funds to cover SNAP.

“We’re going to make sure our people are taken care of and we’re going to be creative, we’re going to work with the private sector, we’re going to work with the nonprofit sector,” he said. “There is no state that can simply say, ‘Oh yes, despite the fact that the federal government is breaking the law, that we’ll just cover down on a quarter of a billion dollars every single month that the federal government is supposed to be providing.’”