More than 41 million Americans rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to buy food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And due to the ongoing government shutdown, the USDA says it will not issue SNAP benefits starting on November 1.
USDA’s SNAP website says that, “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01.”
State of Emergency
On October 23, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency. This action allows Virginia to provide hunger relief to state residents.
According to a news release, “The State of Emergency allows the Governor to expend emergency funds under sum sufficient authority to protect the health, welfare, and safety of Virginians.”
“The Democrat Shutdown will cause SNAP benefits to run out for over 850,000 Virginians in need starting November 1, 2025. I refuse to let hungry Virginians be used as ‘leverage’ by Congressional Democrats. I am declaring a State of Emergency due to the Democrat Shutdown to protect hungry Virginians in need,” Youngkin said in the release.
Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance
On October 28, Youngkin outlined the emergency benefits, called Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance (VENA). Under this program, those who normally receive SNAP benefits will get comparable weekly payments. The payments will be issued via the existing EBT cards that SNAP recipients already use.
These payments will be issued weekly rather than monthly, “in the hopes that the federal shutdown will end soon,” the release said. If a household normally gets $200 monthly, it will get $50 weekly, for example.
A household that normally receives SNAP benefits on the first of the month will now receive VENA benefits on Monday of each week. Those that receive SNAP benefits on the fourth of the month will now receive VENA benefits weekly on Wednesday of each week. And those that normally receive SNAP benefits on the seventh of the month will now receive VENA benefits weekly on Friday of each week.
These benefits will be provided at least through November. When the government shutdown ends and federal funding to SNAP resumes, VENA will end.
Youngkin also announced an additional $1 million of state funds to support Virginia food banks “to offset any temporary disruption as VENA launches at the beginning of November.”
Virginia is one of three states — including Louisiana and Vermont — that has pledged state funds to assist with food benefits, the Associated Press reports. Other states are reportedly facing technical issues on how to approve and fund the efforts.
Feature image, jetcityimage/stock.adobe.com
