USDA sends states guidance on partial SNAP benefits

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is warning Americans it could take weeks to execute partial payments to SNAP recipients. SNAP is the supplemental nutrition assistance program that feeds nearly 42 million Americans, including almost 700,000 Wisconsinites.

“It’s just got to be devastating to not be able to put food on the table and to have your basic need for food be used as a political pawn,” said Taryn Morrissey, a professor of public policy at American University. “Food is such a basic need, and the idea that, as a parent, I wouldn’t be able to put food on the table for children is terrifying. It’s got to create a lot of anxiety.”

Funding for SNAP benefits lapsed over the weekend due to the government shutdown. But two judges ordered the Trump administration to pay SNAP benefits after more than two dozen Democrat-led states sued, including Wisconsin.  

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency since he does not have the power to unilaterally appropriate state dollars to fund SNAP, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin. A bill would need to be passed in the Republican-controlled state legislature, which seems unwilling to do so.

The USDA said partial benefits will be paid in November, about half of what it normally would. But it’s unclear when Wisconsinites will get their aid. 

“Families are going to have to make really difficult decisions. Many of them do already… ‘Heat or eat’ is an issue where families are spending money on heating their homes versus buying food,” Morrissey said. “We have a lot of research showing how important SNAP is to children’s outcomes, whether it’s academic achievement, whether it’s health [or] food security.” 

Morrissey notes that SNAP benefits often do not account for a family’s full cost of food.

“SNAP benefits are issued once a month at various different times during the month,” she explained. “But each household receives benefits once a month, and toward the end of that month, we know that food expenditures decrease. We know that there’s some evidence that behavioral outcomes change among children, even test scores toward the end of the month. So, not being able to count on those SNAP benefits is going to exacerbate all of these problems.” 

Evers posted on X, “The Trump Administration must follow the law and get these funds out without delay.” 

Rollins said the USDA sent SNAP guidance to states on Tuesday morning. She wrote on X, “this will be a cumbersome process” that has “delayed benefits for weeks.” 

Full benefits could be paid if the government were open, Rollins added, but Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have not been able to agree on a way forward.

One Green Bay food pantry has seen needs more than double. And if it stays that way, it might have to impose limits or scale back portions to serve more people.

“An individual in our community may want to go out and buy food at the grocery store and donate it, but the costs right now at the grocery store are higher than ever,” said Selena Darrow, executive director of Rooted In Inc.

The Trump administration is also putting an additional $450 million toward funding WIC benefits in full this month. WIC is a supplemental nutrition assistance program for women, infants and children.

“American families should not have to worry whether essential nutritional support for their infants and young children will vanish from week to week. This uncertainty is the direct result of the government shutdown, and it is unacceptable,” said National WIC Association president and CEO Georgia Machell in a statement. 

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services found that over 142,000 people participated in WIC in the state last year.

“Democrats have failed our country by voting 14 times to defund SNAP and WIC — once again, President Trump is stepping up to protect the American people,” said Congressman Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie due Chien, in a statement to Spectrum News.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said that using emergency funding to partially fund SNAP “is the floor–not the ceiling.”

“Trump has shown he has money for all sorts of things—but food for 42 million hungry Americans should be the top of that list. He must do more to help hungry families,” she wrote on X.

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Rhonda Foxx contributed to this report.