PA SNAP Benefits Won't Go Out In November, Officials Confirm

Pennsylvania residents who receive federal food aid won’t get their November benefits as the ongoing federal shutdown continues, the Department of Agriculture has announced.

The Department of Agriculture posted a notice on its website after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November. That program helps about one in eight Americans buy groceries.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued on November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

Nationally, more than 62 percent of nearly 41.7 million SNAP participants are in families with children; 37 percent are in families with members who are older adults or disabled; and more than 38 percent are in working families, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

That analysis of USDA Food and Nutrition Service data shows that 2 million Pennsylvania residents benefit from SNAP. That’s 15 percent of the state population (1 in 7 residents) who depend on benefits to keep food on the table.

Among those SNAP recipients in PA, 58 percent are families with children, 44 percent are families with older adults or adults with disabilities, and 43 percent are working families, according to the data.

The statistics also showed that 15.7 percent of children in Pennsylvania live below the poverty line, and 10.8 percent of homes are "food insecure," meaning they do not have enough money to afford meals.

Gov. Josh Shapiro has blamed the shutdown on "congressional Republicans."

"Once again, Pennsylvanians are getting screwed by the chaos in Washington DC," the governor shared on social media last week. "Just months after Congressional Republicans voted to kick 140,000 Pennsylvanians off SNAP and 310,00 off Medicaid, their current failure to pass a federal budget and reopen the government is now threatening food assistance for the nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians who rely on SNAP to put food on the table. Families and children could go hungry — and yet Congressional Republicans don’t seem to give a damn."

"Shut our government down and America loses," Fetterman wrote. "2 MILLION Pennsylvanians depend on SNAP to feed their families. For me, it’s hungry Americans over party. Paying our military over party. Paying Capitol Police and federal workers over party. I choose country over party."

The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record. While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days.

The prospect of families not receiving food aid has deeply concerned states run by both parties.

Officials in Louisiana, Vermont and Virginia pledged to keep food aid flowing to recipients in their states, even if the federal program is stalled next month because of the government shutdown.

Other states’ attempts to use their own funds to support the program have faced technical hurdles, and it's uncertain if the three new plans can overcome these.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.