Governor Glenn Youngkin is creating a state-based system to fill the gap for people who are in need of food assistance.
The new program will be called Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance, a parallel food assistance program to fill the gap during the federal shutdown for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Instead of offering monthly payments from the federal government, the newly-created program will offer weekly benefits from the state government.
"This is extraordinary, and this has never been done. And I know we still have a few things to work through," Governor Glenn Youngkin said during a news conference Tuesday. "But we are going to stand strong for those who are most in need at a time when they need us the most."
The governor also took the opportunity to blame Democrats for the shutdown.
"We've worked through the finances to go through the entire month of November," Youngkin said. "To be honest, I think our nation will be at a state of complete disarray if the Democrats in the Senate continue to drag out this complete shutdown and hostage taking that they have engineered."
The governor said he hopes the Virginia food assistance program might be replicated in other states to make sure those in need of food assistance don't go hungry waiting for the federal government to reopen.
Youngkin added that the state-funded nutrition assistance will start going out on November 3rd on a weekly basis as long as Virginia can provide it. The money is coming from the state's budget surplus.
SNAP recipients will be able to use their existing cards at retailers.
You can find more information here.
Meanwhile, attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia have sued the federal government, arguing the U. S. Department of Agriculture has contingency funding available to maintain SNAP benefits. The Trump administration has argued that it couldn’t legally use that money for such a purpose.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
