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Delawareans facing food insecurity lined up outside the Wilmington YMCA Thursday morning, including Janasia Copling, her husband and 1-year-old daughter. Coping said the family has yet to receive their November food stamp benefits.
“It really blindsided us,” she said.
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer declared a state of emergency last week so the state could issue partial payments, starting Friday, to help fill the void left by the federal government. Late Thursday, a Rhode Island district judge ordered the Trump administration to restore full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits by Friday, but the Department of Justice told the court it would appeal the decision, leaving program participants in limbo.
Around 42 million Americans across the country rely on SNAP to help pay for groceries each month, including 118,200 people in Delaware.
Janasia Cooling, husband Jonathan Huaca and baby daughter wait in line for food assistance Thursday morning at the Wilmington YMCA. They said they were concerned about not receiving November SNAP benefits. (Sarah Mueller/WHYY)
President Donald Trump’s administration froze benefits for the program to force congressional Democrats to vote to reopen the government. Democrats have said they want Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies restored in exchange for funding the government.
Copling said the gamesmanship in Washington, D.C., has major consequences for everyday people.
“With politics, everything is you know, more so with the big guys,” she said. “They’re not worried about us little people. But it’s affecting us very badly.”
Coping said she usually gets around $530 a month from SNAP. With Coping unemployed and her husband only working part-time, she said they depend on the antihunger program to get by.
“Everything is super high already, so trying to find affordable groceries is difficult as is,” she said. “So when you have no money whatsoever, it’s really hard.”
