Food Stamps: $38 Million in Potential SNAP Funds on the Line — What’s Being Done To Protect Them?
Written by
Josephine Nesbit
Edited by
Nicholas Morine
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Earlier last year, the D.C. Council passed legislation that requires the mayor to increase SNAP benefits for nine months if the District had a budget surplus. The District ended the year with an extra $38 million. However, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser now questions whether that’s the best move.
“How can we best use that $38 million for the same people?” Bowser asked, as reported by NBC Washington. “Is this the best way? Is it better to use it for [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] increases that affect more people? Is it better to use it for a summer benefits program where the federal government can be a partner?”
Council members say the mayor must comply with the law, NBC Washington reported, calling the mayor’s refusal unlawful and irresponsible. SNAP advocacy groups have also threatened to take the mayor to court. In an opinion, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb wrote that the mayor must disburse the funds as directed and cannot use them for another purpose.
On New Year’s Day, protesters interrupted Bowser’s 5K event, urging the mayor to increase SNAP benefits in the district.
D.C. resident Aparna Raj told 7News that while she’s not on food assistance, D.C. is expensive and she felt compelled to join the few dozen protestors, who chanted: “Don’t steal SNAP.”
About 140,000 D.C. residents rely on SNAP benefits. Last March, families saw their benefits decrease after federal pandemic funding ended.
Across the U.S., food insecurity continues to rise sharply. A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 44.2 million people live in households that had difficulty getting enough food to feed their families in 2022, up from 33.8 million people the year before.
Over half of food-insecure households participate in one or more of the three largest federal food assistance programs. According to The Washington Post, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, chief executive of Feeding America, said many others turn to the nation’s network of food banks.
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