Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday how the commonwealth plans to replace the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with a parallel system to distribute benefits to Virginians amid the government shutdown, which is entering its fifth week.
Benefits will be distributed on a weekly — rather than monthly — basis to SNAP beneficiaries’ existing Electronic Benefits Transfer cards beginning Nov. 3, assuming the shutdown continues until at least Saturday, Youngkin said at a news conference.
More than 850,000 Virginians rely on SNAP benefits for food security. Virginia’s roughly $2.7 billion budget surplus is funding the new system, called Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance, which will cost roughly $37.5 million per week to operate, according to Youngkin.
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The emergency system will work slightly differently than current SNAP benefit distribution, which delivers benefits to a third of recipients on the first, third and fifth days of each month. Under the new plan, which Youngkin said has been developed in real time, will distribute benefits in the same increments every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, meaning the first batch of funds will be delivered Nov. 3, 5 and 7.
“(It’s) like building an airplane while it’s taking off,” Youngkin said. “It has never been done before, and we are restricted in that we can’t just fund into SNAP.”
Youngkin said he knows that two-day delay will impact many Virginians in need, and he has directed an incremental $1 million to be distributed across Virginia food banks by the weekend to help stock food shelves and provide a stopgap before people receive their benefits.
“I expect there are families who will find this delay from Saturday the first to Monday the third to be challenging and a true hardship,” Youngkin said. “I hope the food banks will have everything on the shelf that they need.”
The move comes after Youngkin declared a state of emergency last week following the Virginia Department of Social Services issuing a notice that benefits would lapse Nov. 1 if a congressional deal was not made to reopen the government by Oct. 28.
Republicans and Democrats blame each other for the prolonged shutdown. Republicans control the U.S. House and Senate, but need at least some bipartisan support to pass a temporary funding resolution. Democrats have largely withheld support, saying they will not vote to resume federal funding until Republicans agree to negotiate an extension of expiring health insurance subsidies.
Youngkin, a Republican, blamed Democrats on Tuesday. But he said the state’s parallel system is funded at least through November. After that, he said funding becomes less certain.
“We have run the finances and are prepared to fund this program for the entire month of November,” Youngkin said. “And then I pray to the Lord we don’t have to.”
Youngkin’s strategic plan is a contrast to actions taken by other states. On Tuesday, Democratic attorneys general and governors from 25 states sued the Trump administration to force the release of billions of dollars of contingency funds available to ensure the program can provide food for the roughly 42 million Americans that rely on it. Virginia did not join the lawsuit.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is roughly $3 billion short in its multi-year contingency fund to cover a month of SNAP operations, which costs roughly $9 billion. However, the department is currently sitting on $5.5 billion in additional contingency funds, but has refused to release the money, claiming it is illegal to make emergency funds available for regular benefits, and must reserve them for situations like natural disasters.
Mark Warner, one of Virginia’s two Democratic senators, fired back during a news conference Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of withholding the contingency funds for “political purposes” in addition to the SNAP eligibility cuts included in the reconciliation bill Trump signed into law earlier this year.
Warner acknowledged Youngkin’s plan to ensure Virginians don’t go hungry next month, but said Congress needs a long-term plan to ensure SNAP is available to everyone who needs it.
“You all say you want to support SNAP. Let’s go ahead and take the administration’s plan that they laid out and make that the law so that nobody has to go hungry,” Warner said. “I understand Virginia has found a way to short-term, but these short-term fixes only last so long. Let’s end the shutdown.”
Devlin Epding, 757-510-4037, devlin.epding@virginiamedia.com