Policymakers have options to fund SNAP, lack political will to get it done

D.C. delegation should speak up; governor should convene leaders to find state-level emergency funds

Nearly 1.5 million Ohioans will face food assistance disruption and delay when funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) runs out on November 1^st. The Trump administration could use the tools currently available to the USDA to fund those benefits, states would not be forced to scramble for alternative plans, and Senators would not need to pass legislation to keep SNAP funded. Yet so far, the administration has chosen not to use its authority to preserve food access, preferring to use hungry families as pawns in their continued partisan debate surrounding the government shutdown.

“Policy Matters calls upon Governor DeWine and Senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted and members of the Ohio congressional delegation to call on the Trump administration to continue funding SNAP. We ask that Ohio’s policymakers publicly and privately encourage President Trump to immediately release existing SNAP contingency reserves,” said Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert. “Republican and Democratic administrations have done so in the past, preventing any break in these critical benefits.”

“Past practice and guidance from the Government Accountability Office are crystal clear that the SNAP contingency reserve is available to cover regular SNAP benefits,” Halbert added. “This administration’s choice to deviate from shutdown funding norms suggests their willingness to allow hunger to take a back seat to partisan politics.”

Policy Matters also calls upon the DeWine administration to convene bipartisan elected officials, nonprofit leaders, and innovative businesspeople to craft a state-level solution that allows families access to critical food assistance, in absence of federal action.

“Ohioans need state leaders to bring to this issue the same determination as they brought to funding a new Browns stadium in the state budget,” said Halbert. “The state recently committed $600 million from Ohio’s unclaimed funds account to help the Browns owners move the team out of Cleveland. That’s an unconventional use of funds that belong to everyday Ohioans. Surely legislators can show similar ingenuity in preventing Ohio children and seniors from going hungry. They did so during COVID, using the Prevention, Retention, and Contingency (PRC) program to rapidly create alternative pathways to deliver emergency assistance. Whether Ohio funds basic food assistance from the nearly $4.8 billion unclaimed funds account or the nearly $4 billion in the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund (also known as the rainy-day fund), the state can afford to help families weather this storm,” Halbert stated.

Children, adults with disabilities, and seniors are the majority of SNAP recipients in Ohio. The majority of childless adults who receive SNAP benefits are working but paid so little that they need food assistance.  “Federal rules already limit childless, able-bodied adults to three months of benefits in three years, unless they comply with a 20-hour work requirement,” Halbert added. “Wages for many are so low that they still need food assistance to make ends meet. In fact, four of the ten most common jobs in Ohio pay a typical full-time, year-round worker a wage so low that it would qualify a family of three for SNAP. These four occupations, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespeople, Cashiers, and Home Health and Personal Care Aides, alone account for slightly more than 9% of the Ohio workforce.”

“If the Trump administration refuses to act and Congress cannot pass SNAP funding legislation, then it’s on Ohio’s leaders to get the job done. The people who will be affected are not bargaining chips or pawns for partisan pressure tactics. They are neighbors, friends, and family,” Halbert concluded.