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

Virginia 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 U.S. 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 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The analysis of USDA Food and Nutrition Service data by the non-partisan research group that focuses on federal and state policies to reduce poverty and inequality also shows that 827,800 Virginia residents receive SNAP assistance. That’s 9 percent of the state population (1 in 11) who depend on benefits to keep food on the table.

According to the data, more than 67% of Virginia SNAP participants are in families with children; more than 33% are in families with members who are older adults or are disabled; and more than 36% of recipients are in working families.

Many Virginia households struggle to put food on the table, the center said. The most recent data show in 2023:

• 10.0% of households were “food insecure,” meaning that their access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources.
• 10.2% of the population lived below the poverty line.
• 12.7% of children lived in families below the poverty line.
• 9.5% of older adults lived below the poverty line.

SNAP reaches populations in need: 77% of eligible individuals participated in SNAP in Virginia in pre-pandemic 2020.

The center said SNAP lifted 104,000 people above the poverty line in Virginia, including 42,000 children, per year between 2015 and 2019, on average. (These figures adjust for households’ underreporting of benefits.)

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.

Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, tweeted on Thursday about the shutdown: "Their government. Their shutdown."

Tenth District Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat, tweeted on Thursday: "The real life impacts of this government shutdown are about to be felt across the country, but House Republicans still won’t do their job and come to work to negotiate."

And Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman of the 7th District posted on Saturday: "Federal workers, contractors, and service members are not political pawns, yet the Trump administration continues to treat them as such. These are hardworking people with families to feed, mortgages to pay, and kids to raise — not pieces on Republicans' chess board."

The Associated Press contributed reporting.