The waiting game for federal food aid is finally over for the one in 10 Vermonters who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
After a vote by Congress Wednesday evening to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, the Trump administration gave Vermont the go ahead Thursday to transfer the entirety of November’s monthly SNAP benefits to roughly 63,000 low-income recipients.
Miranda Gray, a deputy commissioner at the Department for Children and Families, said Vermonters who access their benefits with an Electronic Benefits Transfer card will receive the money by Friday. Recipients who get benefits via direct deposit will likely have to wait until Monday.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott said the resumption of SNAP benefits ends one of the most disruptive aspects of the shutdown.
“It looks like everything is going to be back to somewhat normal in terms of the SNAP benefits. I think that’s the first thing that is on everyone’s mind,” Scott said. “As well, it looks like federal employees will be going back to work — that’s all good news as well.”
Democratic lawmakers and Scott voted earlier this month to allocate $6 million in state funding to maintain 15 days’ worth of SNAP benefits during the federal lapse. That means beneficiaries will receive 50% more than their normal benefit for November.
At a hearing in the Statehouse Thursday, Brattleboro Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, the Democratic chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said that money was “well worth spending.”
Scott said he agrees.
“I think those who are on the lower end of the economic scale will put this to good use,” he said. “We’re coming into Thanksgiving, the holidays and so forth. I think it’s OK.”
Also en route to low-income Vermonters is the federal heating assistance that was at risk as a result of the shutdown.
Gray said the state this week disbursed $11 million to the 156 certified fuel dealers that deliver the subsidized heating fuel. That assistance will go to more than 11,000 households, who will receive an average benefit of $992, according to Gray.
The continuing resolution approved by Congress Wednesday fully funds SNAP through next October. But Vermont Administration Secretary Sarah Clark told lawmakers Thursday that the state could see lapses in other key federal programs if the U.S. House and Senate can’t reach consensus on another spending plan by the end of January.
The short-term spending bill also failed to extend tax credits available to individuals who purchase health plans on the state’s Affordable Care Act insurance exchange.
House Speaker Jill Krowinski, a Democrat, said in a written statement that the expiration of those credits could dramatically increase the price of premiums for tens of thousands of Vermonters.
“While we’re relieved that federal SNAP funding will flow again, we remain frustrated that Congress has failed to extend federal health care subsidies, which will hit Vermonters’ budgets hard if they expire at the end of the year,” she said.
