Texas officials began notifying the state's poorest residents on Friday that their food benefits via the Supplemental Food Assistance and Nutrition Program, or SNAP, will be cut off in November if the federal shutdown continues past Oct. 27.
In Texas, that would mean a halt to more than $614 million to the 3.5 million who rely each month on SNAP, also known as food stamps. Of those who could be impacted, 1.7 million are children.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees the SNAP program, notified state agencies a week ago that if the shut down persists, November payments to participants would be halted.
"SNAP has funding available for benefits and operations through the month of October," according to a letter written by the FNS office to state agencies. "However, if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation."
SNAP benefits are transmitted to Lone Star Card users each month for use at grocery retailers. The payments can range from $200 to $400, depending on a household size with the average amount issued at $379, according to August statistics.
The federal government officially shut down at midnight Oct. 1 as lawmakers blew past their deadline to preserve funding for federal agencies, resulting in disrupted services to Texans. The last government shutdown — a partial stoppage in 2018 into 2019 — lasted 35 days.
The Texas Health and Human Services, which administers the SNAP program in Texas is directing Lone Star Card users to their website for more information.
Currently, other assistance programs — the Temporary Assistance to Need Families or TANF, the Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, Medicaid and the Children Health Insurance Program or CHIP — are not impacted by the shutdown.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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