Government shutdown could delay paychecks, benefits from SNAP
Alison Patton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has enough funding to last until November, according to Kim Buckman, Feeding Missouri advocacy and communication director.
The 2018 Farm Bill funds SNAP and the emergency food assistance program along with many agricultural programs. For these programs to keep going, Congress needs to renew the legislation, Buckman said.
If not, there will be a delay in benefits added to EBT cards beginning Nov. 1 when money is reloaded.
“The concern is, if it stretches into November, when USDA can’t really obligate new funds, that’s when families could start to fill the disruptions. That’s when food banks will start to see more of the demand and overflow,” Buckman said.
A government shutdown also means many government employees who are deemed essential workers aren’t getting paid for their time.
For example, U.S. Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) wrote in a press release that his staff will be in the office working.
“Technically, at the current time with the government shutdown, no one is being paid for their work other than the principle,” a spokesperson for Alford said.
There are some exceptions to who gets paid, like the president and congress members, whose salaries are protected by the Constitution.
People who aren’t being paid during the shutdown will receive back pay for their time once the government reopens. Non-essentials workers, like administrative employees at Mark Twain National Forest, don’t go to work during the shutdown.
Buckman said there was an increase in the amount of people coming to food banks that partner with Feeding Missouri during the last government shutdown in 2018.
She said it was because of the uncertainty in when a pay check might come.
“We know where the need is going to be because we have been through this,” Buckman said.