Nearly 600,000 low-income Kentuckians may be scrambling for food as benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are set to end Saturday due to the government shutdown.
The loss of benefits is expected to put more strain on local resources. Some states are using their emergency funds to support food banks.
Kentucky has a budget surplus exceeding $3 billion. State Rep. Nancy Tate, a Republican from Brandenburg, is a member of the legislature’s Non-Profit Caucus. She told WKU Public Radio that she supports holding a special legislative session to consider how the state could help food banks.
“The things we'd look at is whether the money that’s been allocated to them has already been distributed and if there's a need for us to distribute more money," Tate said. "They’re the people that are on the front line.”
During his weekly Team Kentucky update on Thursday, Gov. Beshear said he’s not sure a special session is needed, but he’s looking at all options. He joined a lawsuit with two dozen other states this week seeking to force the Trump administration to tap into contingency funds to provide SNAP benefits in November.
“The sad thing is, there are emergency funds that are right there," Beshear said. "The Trump administration is talking about providing Argentina a $20 billion bailout during a government shutdown, but won’t provide food assistance for our own people. That’s not very 'America first.'”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a contingency fund earmarked by Congress to support SNAP in emergencies, but the agency said in a memo obtained by NPR that those funds are designed to respond to unforeseen events, such as natural disasters, with the current shutdown not qualifying.
U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, a Republican from Bowling Green, echoed that explanation on Wednesday following a round table discussion with members of the Ft. Knox community.
"You wake up one morning and something's happened in Ukraine. The way military funding is set up, there's a lot of discretion to move money around," Guthrie said. "With SNAP, we define emergencies as natural disasters, so is it a natural disaster that Democrats are refusing to vote for the spending bill? The money is there for contingencies that are uncontrolled."
Beshear said Thursday the state can’t afford the $106 million it would take to pay next month’s benefits for every SNAP recipient in Kentucky, which is 13% of the state's population.
Beshear announced a Team Kentucky food drive through Nov. 21. Non-perishable items will be accepted at all major state office buildings in Frankfort and at the L&N Building in Louisville. The donations will be distributed to food banks around the state.
