U.S. Congressman Greg Stanton, along with 212 House Democrats, has called on U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to use the SNAP contingency fund to provide food assistance as a government shutdown continues into its second month. The lawmakers are urging the USDA to utilize its statutory transfer authority and the approximately $5 billion SNAP contingency fund to ensure that benefits are delivered in November.
SNAP benefits were distributed in October, but according to Stanton and his colleagues, more than 880,000 Arizona seniors, veterans, and families with children could be at risk of losing access to food assistance in November if additional funding is not made available.
In their letter, the lawmakers wrote: “USDA’s shutdown plan acknowledges that ‘Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds…’ USDA still has significant funding available in SNAP’s contingency reserve – which Congress provides precisely for this reason – that can be used to fund the bulk of November benefits… Additionally, while the contingency reserve will not cover November benefits in full, we urge USDA to use its statutory transfer authority or any other legal authority at its disposal to supplement these dollars and fully fund November benefits.”
They added: “There are clear steps the administration can and must take immediately to ensure that millions of families across the country can put food on their table in November. Choosing not to ensure SNAP benefits reach those in need this November would be a gross dereliction of your responsibilities to the American people.”
Greg Stanton represents Arizona’s 4th District in Congress. He previously served as mayor of Phoenix and now serves on several congressional committees including Transportation and Infrastructure, Foreign Affairs, and the Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. In recent elections, Stanton defeated Kelly Cooper twice: once in 2022 by a margin of 56% to 43.1%, and again in 2024 with 52.7% of votes compared to Cooper’s 45.5%.
The full text of the letter is available here.
