TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — An extended government shutdown could impact people who rely on federal food assistance. States have already warned residents on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that it could be suspended within the next two weeks.
“What we’re hearing is that the federal government has told states to pause November benefits and not distribute them until they say so,” said Holly Bullard of the Florida Policy Institute (FPI).
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FPI is an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing policies that improve economic mobility and quality of life for Floridians. They said the impending closure has left the food stamp program vulnerable to funding sources.
Reports say funding will be restored in a budget agreement to end the shutdown, but it’s unclear when that will happen.
“We’re going to run out of money within two weeks, and we’re talking about millions of vulnerable families, hungry families who can’t access these programs because of the government shutdown,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.
Federal programs provide food assistance to one in eight people in the United States. Although Florida’s position is unclear, FPI said more than $7 billion in SNAP flows into the state each year, making the program important.
“More than half a million people in Tampa Bay, 3 million across the state, rely on SNAP, and now they have to watch and be nervous, or if this doesn’t happen in November, they may have to take out loans, take out loans and go hungry to feed their children,” Bullard said.
Rollins blamed Democrats for prolonging the government shutdown and posing potential risks to the SNAP program. Local Democrats said longer-term changes to the program from the passed Big Beautiful Bill Act are a bigger problem.
