Planned bills in the Michigan House could allow food assistance payments to continue in the state despite the federal government shutdown.
Democrats said the bills would put over $600 million toward keeping payments under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program running next month. That’s after the U.S. Department of Agriculture told states to pause them starting in November.
Representative Tonya Myers Phillips (D-Detroit) said SNAP covers too many Michiganders -- about 1.4 million, according to the state health department -- for lawmakers to let payments stop.“Every one of us that have the honor and privilege to serve here has SNAP recipients in our district. And so, we have the moral obligation to do what’s in the best interest of our people,” Myers Phillips said.
The bills could have an uphill journey in the Republican-led state House of Representatives. House Republican leadership has not yet commented on the spending bills, which hadn’t formerly been introduced in the chamber as of Tuesday.
The legislation plans to use lapsed project funding to fill the hole in federal dollars, according to a press release House Democrats sent out Tuesday.
Regarding the spending, state Representative Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City) said the state can afford to pick up the tab for a little bit.
“There’s $2 billion in the rainy day fund. I don’t know what kind of rainy day you’ve seen. But if people can’t eat, that’s a pretty damn rainy day,” Coffia told reporters.
The Democratic lawmakers are also calling on the USDA to use emergency funds to keep SNAP going without Michigan needing to step in. Democrats in Michigan’s House Congressional delegation sent a letter to the USDA urging as much earlier this week.
Democratic state attorneys general, including Michigan’s, are also suing over the matter.In the meantime, Michiganders could rely extra on the state’s food banks and pantries. Democratic-led bills would also put around $25 million toward those efforts.
Food banks across the state are struggling to predict their needs based on limited information from the federal government and the uncertainty of assistance from the state government.
O’Nealya Gronstal is with Lakeshore Food Club in Mason and Oceana Counties. She said the pause in SNAP payments would “cripple the charitable food system.”“We are not prepared. We do not have the infrastructure in place. We don’t even have enough food in our warehouse to meet the need on Sunday if the benefits are closed on Saturday,” Gronstal said.
