SNAP Benefits and Closure: Millions of People Could Face Severe Coupons in Food Stamps Due to Government Closure and Underfunding of the USDA

The Partial Judgment of the Government entered its third week Saturday without the end being in sight. If the government did not reopen before February, millions of Americans benefiting from the SNAP program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), the country's food stamp program, might see their assistance halted.

The US Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP at the federal level is one of the unfunded agencies at the partial closure of the government. Although SNAP is automatically renewed, no congressional funding has been awarded beyond January. Congress has earmarked $ 3 billion of emergency funds for SNAP distribution, but that would not cover all February bonds.

In September 2018, the last month for which data are available, SNAP benefits of $ 4.7 billion were paid in all states. If closure continues until March, there will be no more funds for SNAP, which would endanger the food security of millions of Americans.

According to the Non-Priority Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 42 million Americans received benefits from the SNAP program in 2017. More than 68 percent of participants belonged to families with children and more than 44 percent to working families.

Other programs are even more at risk than SNAP. The Indian Reserve Food Distribution Program and the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) receive no funding from the federal government during the closure, but "may continue to operate at the national and local levels with any funding and commodity resources that remain available, "according to the USDA.

In the first five months of 2018, about 7 million Americans received WIC benefits each month. WIC is intended for pregnant women, infants and children under the age of 5 years postnatal and postnatal who are in the poverty index and who have a "nutritional risk". The WIC program provided nearly US $ 5 billion to each US state and territory in September 2018.

The Americans benefiting from SNAP and WIC would be particularly hard hit in February.

Nutrition Programs for Children, including School Lunch, School According to the USDA, breakfast, food for children and adults, summer meals and special milk will continue their activities until February.

The number of food and nutrition services, who oversee the children's nutrition programs, SNAP and WIC, has been cut by 95% since the start of the closure.