Millions of low-income Americans will soon receive food stamp benefits again, after weeks of legal wrangling and confusion over the fate of the program during the government shutdown.
After President Trump signed legislation on Wednesday night ending the shutdown, the Agriculture Department directed states on Thursday to take “immediate steps to ensure households receive their full November allotments promptly.” Still, officials and nutrition policy experts cautioned that it would take time for all 42 million people who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to receive their benefits.
Brooke L. Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said in an interview on CNN that most beneficiaries would see assistance by Monday.
“Keep in mind, the SNAP program is funded by the federal government, but it is the 50 states and 50 different infrastructures that move that money out, which is what made it so complicated, the patchwork,” she said. “But it’s moving. It’s coming.”
During the shutdown, the Trump administration resisted funding full SNAP benefits for November, taking its fight all the way to the Supreme Court. As courts deliberated the fate of SNAP, the Agriculture Department directed states to issue partial benefits. The legal battle and constantly evolving situation led to a patchwork system in which some states issued full benefits, some doled out partial benefits and others suspended SNAP entirely.
Though food stamp benefits will now restart nationwide upon the reopening of the government, the damage to SNAP may be longer lasting and some recipients may wait longer than others to see full payments.
At least seven states — Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia — said on Thursday that they had transmitted files needed to load benefits cards and that beneficiaries could expect to see full deposits on Thursday or Friday.
Still, millions of SNAP beneficiaries in other states will likely see delays as states restart and amend their benefit delivery process.
Propel, a company that offers a free app to help participants manage SNAP benefits, estimated that, as of Thursday, some 3.8 million households were still missing their November deposits, though that number is likely to decrease rapidly as states issue them. Nearly five million households received partial benefits in November and may wait days or weeks for the rest of their subsidies.
Linda Qiu is a Times reporter who specializes in fact-checking statements made by politicians and public figures. She has been reporting and fact-checking public figures for nearly a decade.
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