(Oct. 15) The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) has instructed all counties to stop taking new applications for food stamps effective Wednesday.
Why? Because while the state received money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund the program through October, the shutdown may prevent another payment Minnesota needs to process Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in November.
The DCYF said it received notice from the USDA that without renewed federal support, there are insufficient funds to pay for SNAP benefits in November.
The agency also told the counties, which administer SNAP, that – barring change – on Tuesday, Oct. 21, food stamp recipients will be notified that they will not receive November benefits.
There are about 440,000 food stamp recipients in Minnesota. Other federal nutrition programs, including WIC – which provides food assistance to mothers, infants and children – are also on the brink of running out of money.
State Democrats blamed President Trump and congressional Republicans for the stalemate in Washington, D.C., over funding the U.S. government, which does not appear anywhere close to resolution.
“We are at the start of the third week of the Republicans’ government shutdown, and already it’s starting to have real effects on the lives of Minnesotans in need,” Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said in a release. “Pausing even a single day of applications for SNAP benefits could delay approval for hungry kids and families who don’t have a day to spare.”
Republicans, however, say its Democratic demands for a reversal of GOP cuts to Medicaid and the expansion of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that are to blame for the continued shuttering of government.
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