CHARLESTON, WV (WV Watch) West Virginia’s system for distributing electronic SNAP benefits isn’t set up to receive an infusion of state dollars, according to the governor and lawmakers, leaving the state’s food banks and pantries in need of donations to keep people fed during the delayed food benefits.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helps feed about 275,000 West Virginians, or one in six state residents. Nearly 40% of those recipients are children.
Due to the federal government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, said “there will be no benefits issued” Nov. 1.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced this week he plans to give up to $13 million in state dollars to food banks and called on residents to match the contribution. Funding SNAP directly — about $47 million — isn’t the best option right now, according to the governor.
The state’s SNAP electronic benefits management company, Fidelity Information Services, is unable to accept direct state funding, according to the governor’s office.
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, on Thursday noted an Oct. 24 memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the agency would not use contingency funds to fund food stamps during the shutdown.
She said the state cannot directly fund SNAP due to the change at Fidelity.
“So even if we gave the money to the [West Virginia] Department of Human Services, they would not be able to directly load that money into SNAP accounts,” Young said. “So the best thing we can do is to fund our food banks. I realize that is not the same thing, but we don’t have the capacity to fund SNAP benefits because the federal government has taken an unprecedented move to stop the system.”
Morrisey posted on his X account Oct. 29 that Fidelity “does not believe that sending money through EBT is feasible over the next few months.”
“This is why we’re proceeding with our plan which is the quickest way to get food to people who are in need,” he wrote.
Caitlin Cook, director of advocacy and public policy at Mountaineer Food Bank, said SNAP is the most effective tool the country has to fight hunger. For every one meal the charitable food network food provides, SNAP provides nine, she said.
There is no way the charitable food network can make up the full difference that SNAP benefits provide to the 144,000 households that received SNAP.
“There is no way the charitable food network can make up the full difference that SNAP benefits provide to the 144,000 households that received SNAP,” Cook said.
– Caitlin Cook, director of advocacy and public policy at Mountaineer Food Bank
House Democrats ask Morrisey, GOP lawmakers to appropriate more food money
In a news conference Thursday, Young and other Democrats in the West Virginia House of Delegates called on Morrisey and federal leaders to do more to address the SNAP crisis. They suggested calling a special legislative session so that lawmakers might appropriate money to food banks.
House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, said Morrisey has not done enough.
“It takes $1.5 million a day to feed hungry mountaineers,” Hornbuckle said. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have over $60 million in surplus. We have a medical cannabis fund. We could even follow the lead of Ohio Gov. [Mike] Dewine, who tapped their Rainy Day Fund. There are outlets out there that we could be doing right now. It’s a dire situation.
“And so what we are doing as a caucus, we are asking to call us in a special session, whatever it is that needs to be done,” Hornbuckle said. “We will work together to get this thing done.”
Senate President Randy Smith did not respond to a question about whether the Republican-led Legislature would consider dipping into the state’s $1.4 billion in Rainy Day Fund for food banks.
Lawmakers can utilize the Rainy Day Fund, an emergency fund of sorts, to cover acts of God, budget shortfalls and other things solely at the discretion of the Legislature.
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, was unable to answer questions for this story due to scheduling conflicts. During Morrisey’s press conference earlier this week, Hanshaw said food security is part of the government’s primary jobs of infrastructure and public safety. He applauded the governor for filling in the gap left by a “dysfunctional federal government.”
“Certainly no element of public safety rings more true to citizens, certainly across our state than food security,” Hanshaw said. “And in an environment in which food security is already a baked-in problem that we in our communities experience every day, a federal government that has abdicated its responsibility to do basic services and provide basic funding for the functions of government is unacceptable.”
House Democrats also noted that Morrisey could dip into $500 million sitting in the governor’s contingency fund.
Cook said that the federal government shutdown has also meant that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program has also been on pause, which means that food assistance programs have less food inventory to distribute.
The increased demand on feeding programs will come from multiple sources — including federal workers who are going without paychecks, people who aren’t receiving their SNAP benefits, and other people who are food insecure but ineligible for the SNAP program, she said.
“So, the pressure is mounting on a charitable food network that’s already been stressed before this government shutdown,” Cook said.
Drew Galang, spokesperson for Morrisey, said that, “The state continues to evaluate plans to prevent our citizens from going hungry should the federal shutdown continue past the first few weeks of November.”
He added that Morrisey’s actions to expedite and authorize over $14 million, which includes money allocated by lawmakers earlier this year for food banks, was expected to provide food assistance to SNAP recipients for up to two weeks.
Article republished with permission: West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
