On Thursday, November 13th, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced that most beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as “food stamps,” can expect to receive their November benefits by next Monday or sooner.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins stated that following the government reopening, the Department of Agriculture began working on Wednesday evening to distribute all SNAP benefits for November.
“Work is in progress, and benefits are set to be distributed soon. Good news is on the way for those who truly rely on this assistance,” she told CNN.
Beneficiaries can look forward to receiving their benefits, with Rollins saying, “Hopefully, most people will receive them by the end of this weekend—at the latest by Monday.”
The U.S. government recently experienced the longest government shutdown in history, lasting 43 days, which resulted in nearly 42 million Americans not receiving their SNAP benefits on time. During the shutdown, with emergency funding in place, the government only received 65% of its allotted funding. The Department of Agriculture announced a temporary halt to full payment of SNAP benefits for November. Normally, funds for this assistance are allocated to states at the beginning of each month.
However, at least 19 states quickly distributed full benefits, with several other states disbursing partial benefits in the past week or so.
Rollins acknowledged that the timing for beneficiaries to receive full benefits depends on the state they reside in.
“Please remember, the SNAP program is federally funded, but the distribution of funds is completed by 50 states through 50 different systems, which is where the complexity lies—it’s like putting together a puzzle,” she explained.
She also emphasized that the Department of Agriculture did not transfer child nutrition funds to SNAP because doing so would harm the interests of school-age children.