With the government shutdown delaying SNAP food benefits for more than a week, food banks are feeling the strain. The Supreme Court on Friday at least temporarily allowed the Trump administration to withhold about $4 billion in payments for the SNAP program.
“Less produce to give. Before, we had like 35, 45 pallets a week, now it’s less,” said Oscar Gildemeister, a supervisor with the Open Hand Association in The Bronx. “We give out food Thursday and Saturday but sometimes we have to open during the week because people come and demand it.”
The court, via an order issued by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, provisionally blocked an order issued by Rhode Island-based U.S. District Judge John McConnell that required the payments to be made by Friday night.
SNAP recipient Murad Saleh told News 4 on Saturday that he’s struggling to put food on his table.
“I have three kids, and I pay everything, and I cover it in the house,” Saleh said.
He’s relying on that Bronx food pantry to feed himself and his family. Saleh and his daughter were among dozens lined up for assistance.
“More people come for food at this time,” Gildemeister said.
But the founder of Open Hand warns that the toll is having an impact on the nonprofit as well.
“The rent here is $65,000 a year. But I owe (the landlord) for two months now,” said Aleks Nilaj.
The pantry depends on city grants and private donations, and without more money, may have to close for the holidays, according to Nilaj.
Tri-State area leaders are trying to help cover the gap for those on SNAP.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has directed state agencies to issue full federal SNAP benefits for November. The first New Yorkers are expected to have access to their benefits starting Sunday, she said.
Hochul’s fellow Democrat, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, confirmed full payments were made to the state’s 800,000 SNAP recipients before Friday’s Supreme Court stay. Local organizations in the Garden State are coming together to try and help those in need.
“It’s tough because we’re a family of six and we provide for our grandchildren and our children,” said New Jersey SNAP recipient Anne Pinet. “For the president and the federal government to even be doing this to its citizens is crazy.”
On Saturday, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced that full SNAP benefits for November have been loaded onto the EBT cards of the state’s SNAP recipients.
Approximately 65% of the funding is from the federal government as directed under a court order, and the remainder is state funding that has been authorized by Gov. Lamont, according to his office.
It says Connecticut SNAP recipients should now have access to the full funding they would have normally received for the month. But December benefits remain uncertain. Nearly 42 million people rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.
The administration has said that because of the government shutdown, there is only enough money to pay partial benefits this month. It had previously agreed to pay about $5 billion from a SNAP contingency fund but objected to paying another $4 billion from a separate program, arguing McConnell had no authority to force it to do so.
NBC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.