SNAP benefits won’t be paid for November

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

The Trump Administration has notified states that it will not pay out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan benefits in November while the federal shutdown remains in place. SNAP is completely federally funded and falls under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The federal government has provided funding for Oregon’s WIC program to continue into November, and free and reduced-price school meals will still be available. Currently, the shutdown is not affecting the National School Lunch Program, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services.

But some 757,000 Oregonians on SNAP will receive no new benefits issued after Friday, Oct. 31, according to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek. One in six Oregonians receives SNAP benefits, according to ODHA. Approximately 210,000 of them are children. Another 130,000 are adults 65 and older.

“This is a cruel and unacceptable situation,” Kotek said in a press release. “President Trump should focus on feeding families by negotiating a deal with Congress, not doing other things like deploying troops in American cities on taxpayers’ dime. Any delay or reduction in food benefits in November will cause unnecessary hardship and hunger for hundreds of thousands of people in Oregon during the month of Thanksgiving. … It would hit rural communities and economies particularly hard because of the high number of households utilizing SNAP benefits.”

Benefits already loaded onto cards are expected to remain available and the cards should work as usual, however no new benefits will be loaded for November.

The department said it would work as quickly as possible to distribute SNAP benefits if the shutdown ends. It is still accepting applications for benefits.

SNAP participants should check their EBT card balances regularly, it said, and continue following SNAP rules and reporting requirements. They also may sign up for a ONE Online account, and download the Oregon ONE Mobile app at benefits.oregon.gov, to receive notices about their SNAP cases.

The budget bill approved by Congress in July also makes changes to the SNAP program that are expected to end many people’s eligibility for the program or cut back on the benefits they receive. Among those is an increase in the age limit for the Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents time limit. The bill added exceptions to the time limit, however, for federally recognized Tribal members. 

It ended the time limit exceptions for veterans, people who are homeless and children in foster care, once they hit adulthood, and lowered the exception for parents, to those with children younger than 14.