When Sierra Perry was waiting to get into the D.C. Department of Human Services’s Anacostia Service Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE on Oct. 30 to take care of a personal matter, she learned of the looming Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) suspension on Nov. 1 due to what is now the longest federal government shutdown in history.
Puzzled, Perry, a Congress Heights resident, asked her friend, Sierra Stephens, who just happened to walk by, about what was going on with SNAP. When Stephens confirmed about the suspension, Perry was livid.
“I don’t believe it,” she told The Informer. “How could they do that? People have kids to feed. Kids will be malnourished if they don’t eat. That is cruel.”
Stephens agreed, saying “shutting down SNAP is ridiculous.”
“You know what it is, Trump wants people to act a fool so he can shoot them,” she said. “How are kids supposed to eat? What is going to happen is those rich folks are going to get robbed and things are about to get dangerous out here.”
The friends talked passionately about the SNAP suspension. Stephens mentioned D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, expressing her thoughts on what she thought the District leader should do to help those who will be cut off from SNAP and the WIC program.
“Mayor Bowser needs to do a little bit more,” Stephens, 36, said. “She helps everybody else, she needs to help us. People need their food. If they can’t eat, they can’t function. Kids can’t function if they don’t eat.”
While the SNAP suspension was set to take place as many federal workers are undergoing financial stress due to being furloughed— some working with no pay and government contractors not being paid due to lack of work—- Bowser did step in to help D.C. residents.
She mandated that the District government will honor SNAP and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) obligations for the month of November.
“We know that SNAP and WIC play a critical role in helping thousands of Washingtonians, and millions of Americans, put food on the table each month,” the mayor said. “We were hopeful it would come to this–and we still need the federal government to reopen as soon as possible–but for right now, we’re moving forward to ensure that we take care of D.C. residents in November.”
Washingtonians Expound on the SNAP Dilemma
Bowser’s mandate to temporarily fund SNAP in the District covers about 85,000 households, consisting of 141,000 people. The average per household SNAP issuance in the District in recent months is $314, according to government data.
Additionally, there are over 12,500 residents in 6,300 households who benefit from WIC and receive food assistance to purchase critical items such as infant formula, nutritious foods, fruits and vegetables. WIC also educates recipients on such matters as nutrition education, breastfeeding and offers referrals to health and social services for mothers, babies and children under five years.
District government data reveals that the two programs generate economic benefits for the city. Every $1 of SNAP benefits generates $1.54 of economic activity with those funds spent in District grocery stores and other businesses.
The Bowser administration says the SNAP benefits will cost the city $29 million and WIC, $1.5 million. Administration officials say contingency funds will cover the costs of the program, and will be recouped in next year’s budget.
The mayor has initiated this action while supporting D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s joining of a lawsuit with 25 states suing the Trump administration for not using its contingency funds for SNAP.
Bowser’s actions have generated support among city leaders, including D.C. Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large).
“I’ve been in ongoing conversations with our agencies and the mayor’s team about the impact of this shutdown, and I’m glad the mayor made this decision,” Henderson said. “States and local governments across the country have been in a tough spot and it’s one [decision] she should not have to make. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a reserve of $6 billion which is designed to be used in these very instances to ensure no interruption in food and nutrition programs, but they are refusing to release that funding.”
Henderson also dispelled some popular mistruths about SNAP benefits.
“I even heard a ‘news’ anchor suggest that folks were getting their nails and hair done with SNAP benefits,” the council member said. “That couldn’t be further from the truth–you cannot even buy toilet paper or hygiene products with SNAP benefits.”
D.C. Hunger Solutions, an advocacy organization whose mission is to eradicate food insecurity in the city, praised Bowser for funding SNAP and WIC benefits for November. Like Henderson, D.C. Hunger Solution leaders blame federal officials for the SNAP debacle and want funds distributed to the states and localities like the District as mandated by law.
“SNAP remains one of the most effective anti-hunger programs in the nation,” a statement from D.C. Hunger Solutions said. “Yet, as grocery prices continue to rise, families are forced to choose between rent and food, while already stretched local food banks and pantries cannot meet the scale of this preventable crisis.”
The organization emphasized its dedication to addressing food insecurity, while encouraging federal leaders to step up.
“D.C. Hunger Solutions stands with all SNAP participants, including every family, child, and older adult, threatened by this reckless and unnecessary program benefit disruption, and calls for immediate federal action to safeguard food access in the District and across the country,” the statement continues.
D.C. Shadow Rep. Oye Owolewa (D) said congressional leadership is mainly to blame for the
SNAP problem and the political paralysis in the country, emphasizing the need to fulfill their duties as elected officials and offering a call to action.
“Republican leadership, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, has chosen politics over people,” said Owolewa. “Instead of passing a clean funding bill, they are holding everyday Americans hostage to a partisan agenda. There is nothing conservative about letting babies go hungry, families missing rent or federal employees working without pay. We can end this shutdown today. I’m calling on my colleagues across the aisle to stop the games and do the job the American people elected us to do, keep the government open, protect essential services, and put people before politics.”
