Millions of Americans might soon get a reprieve from the possibility of hunger thanks to two federal judge rulings on Friday. They ordered the Trump administration to follow the law and provide contingency funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
How soon the administration will comply is uncertain, or if it will appeal. The need is urgent.
Without this intervention, as many as 906,000 Washingtonians, including 300,000 children, would have to go without food-purchasing benefits from the federal food program. Federal officials had said the program was out of money and there was no legal way to muster money to keep it going.
Thankfully, state officials, charities and food banks are ready to help meet the need of our residents.
Nationwide, about 42 million Americans receive such assistance. Nationally, 40% of SNAP recipients are children; 1.2 million are military veterans; 23,000 are active military families; and 8 million are seniors.
These statistics alone should have been enough to wake Congress from its partisan brinkmanship and act to protect those who have served our nation and our most vulnerable populations. Instead it was the lawsuits filed by 25 states, including Washington, that pushed the crisis to the courts. The judges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts ruled the government must use contingency funds to keep SNAP operational.
The administration is required to use contingency funds — about $5.5 billion — whenever allocated SNAP funds are not enough, according to the states’ lawsuit.
“USDA’s suspension of SNAP benefits is both contrary to law, and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown’s office said in a statement.
Sadly, in one of the richest countries in the world, where there actually is an abundance of food, there is a shortage of political courage and leadership.
Aside from the lawsuit, states such as Washington instituted backup plans. Gov. Bob Ferguson issued an executive order to send $2.2 million a week in November to food banks statewide.
There are more than 30 food banks in Seattle where food is available for free and without income requirements.
In addition to the impact on families and seniors, the SNAP disruption would have affected grocery stores — especially in rural areas — that heavily rely on SNAP purchases. And it would have had a ripple effect beyond just food sources.
“We know that this gap is going to be significant,” said Julia Smiljanic, senior communications specialist with Rainier Valley Food Bank, that serves about 800 people a week and has planned for the expected increase of visitors. “Folks who need access to food normally have other needs that run in conjunction with food insecurity. People will have to choose between food and paying rent.”
The United Way of King County was anticipating the SNAP crisis. It has deployed more than $330,000 to local food banks in the last month and will look to the public to help do even more, said Regina Malveaux, United Way’s chief impact officer. It also has programs to assist with housing.
Everyone can help. The Times newsroom offers some ideas in this story.
The political parties foresaw this crisis when their stalemate over health care subsidies moved the country closer to the government shutdown that’s now at 30 days long. The result is millions of Americans, some of whom are already suffering hardship through furloughs in the shutdown, would have faced hunger as well. The federal judges deserve praise for stopping a political fight from spiraling out of control.
