Standing by food destined for residents in need at Philabundance on Friday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced an emergency response to what he characterized as an avoidable and unprecedented crisis. Shapiro said the state is stepping in with $5 million in emergency aid for food banks and a disaster declaration to expedite relief.
The halt in benefits, driven by the ongoing federal shutdown and the failure to pass a budget, marks the first time in U.S. history that the government has stopped issuing payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP. Around 2 million Pennsylvania residents are being impacted.
“They have never had their benefits paused before until right now,” Shapiro said. “This is all because the Trump administration has decided that it will not be issuing SNAP benefits for the month of November, which, of course, begins tomorrow. They made this determination even though they are sitting on billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated contingency funds.”
Earlier this week, Pennsylvania joined 24 other states and Washington, D.C., in suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the decision, arguing that the agency has the legal responsibility and financial ability to continue issuing benefits despite the budget impasse.
Shortly before Shapiro took the podium, a federal judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and required the USDA to use the emergency funds to keep SNAP going. Shapiro said that the state’s efforts would continue regardless.
“Given this administration and its propensity to ignore the rule of law, I don’t trust that they’re going to follow this judge’s ruling,” he said. “I sure hope the Trump administration does not appeal and instead adheres to the rule of law.”
The emergency state funds will be distributed through the nonprofit Feeding America, a statewide association for Pennsylvania’s member food banks, and Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System, a state initiative that connects Pennsylvania farmers with food banks that collectively serve all 67 counties.
The governor’s disaster declaration gives state agencies broader authority to distribute funding quickly and cut through red tape, immediately allowing food banks to make purchases and scale up their supply in just a matter of days.
Shapiro, noting that even those funds would not be sufficient to make up for the lost federal benefits, announced the launch of a private donation campaign to support the emergency response, called the “SNAP Emergency Relief Fund.” It has already received donations from prominent figures, including entrepreneurs Mark Cuban and Thomas Tull and 76ers co-owner David Adelman.
“Over the last 24 hours, I have worked closely with the private sector and asked Pennsylvanians who are fortunate, asked Pennsylvanians who have done well to step up and help their neighbors in this time of need,” Shapiro said. “As a result of my calls to those leaders in the private sector, we have raised an initial $1 million that will go on top of the state funds that we are releasing.”
