Letter to Governor Scott: Urge USDA to allocate and issue full funding for November SNAP Benefits
The following is a letter issued to Governor Scott, Secretary Jenny Samuelson, Interim Commissioner Sandi Hoffman, and Deputy Commissioner Miranda Gray:
We are writing to ask you to immediately take action to ensure that Vermonters will have access to their SNAP benefits in November. Please communicate with the USDA and urge them to release the available contingency funds so that Vermont 3SquaresVT beneficiaries will experience no disruption in their benefits.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recently indicated that they will not have sufficient funding to release November SNAP benefits, due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. However, USDA has contingency funds — money that exists precisely to prevent this kind of crisis. Federal law makes clear that SNAP benefits must continue for everyone who qualifies, and even USDA’s own shutdown plan acknowledges that the agency has the authority to use these funds.
Yet, Secretary Rollins has said USDA will not act. That means millions of Americans — and tens of thousands of Vermonters — could go hungry unnecessarily. The $5-6 billion in the SNAP contingency reserve could fund the bulk of November SNAP benefits, and the Administration could legally transfer the remaining funding that is necessary to keep SNAP benefits fully funded for November. This would not be unprecedented, as it is the same action they have already taken to keep WIC fully funded during the shutdown.
During a time when families in Vermont are struggling to meet their basic needs, it is critical that the nearly 39,000 households in the state who rely on SNAP to purchase food, are able to do so. Not only would a lapse in benefits be detrimental to the Vermonters who rely on them to feed themselves and their families, but the loss of $12.4 million to the local economy would hit grocery stores across the state.
We are asking you to publicly call on USDA to take every measure available to them to issue SNAP benefits in November. Specifically, the statement should call on the Trump Administration to release the contingency funds, transfer the necessary additional funding, and instruct states on how to proceed with issuing November SNAP benefits to eligible households.
Vermonters need to know their Governor is fighting for them — for the parents wondering how they’ll feed their kids next week, for the seniors stretching every dollar, and for the local grocers who keep our communities strong.
Sincerely,
Anore Horton
Executive Director
Hunger Free Vermont