As the government shutdown extends into its second month, the effects are expected to snowball for more and more residents.
Consider Iolan Rheta Colston, a single mother of four children, ages 8 to 15.
Colston, who has been unable to work for the past four years because she suffers from lupus and a host of other health ailments, receives SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits from the state, to the tune of $760 a month.
However, since SNAP funding comes from the United States Department of Agriculture one of the agencies affected by the shutdown the SNAP funding is in question.
Colston was among the more than 1,600 Allen Countians notified that their February assistance would be delivered early due to budget wrangling related to the shutdown. Colston received her February allotment Jan. 17, more than two weeks before she was expecting it.
The problem, according to the Kansas Department of Children and Families, which administers the SNAP program here, is that the SNAP funding beyond February is not yet secure.
Due to the continuing shutdown, we do not know yet about Marchs benefits, DCF notes on its website.
Meanwhile, the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pointed to the anticipated gap between now and whenever Marchs food assistance is delivered.
Even if the shutdown is resolved in time for the government to provide full March SNAP benefits on time, the much longer than usual gap … “will cause some households whose budgets already are extremely tight to face heightened difficulties affording food, as they await their March benefits, the CBPP reported. In turn, this will place additional strain on the emergency food network and other community resources, which already are stretched.
While SNAP benefits are considered an entitlement, meaning that anyone who qualifies under program rules can receive benefits if he or she applies, the program is funded through the annual appropriations process, generally as part of the agriculture appropriations bill.
With the shutdown, those appropriations are not available, leaving less than $3 billion in USDAs coffers for the March benefits nationwide vs. the $4.8 billion a month the program costs.
If USDA determines it has a shortfall of approximately $1.8 billion and directs that the partial funding be spread evenly across all 19 million SNAP households, the average cut per household would be at least $90, CBBP reported. If USDA needs to tap the contingency reserve in February, the cuts required for March would be larger.
For Colston, any cuts in assistance would be devastating. She estimates that the assistance she receives with school breakfasts and lunches, SNAP and the Humanity House comes to around $1,000 a month.
Eating with three teenagers is expensive, notes Colston, who moved to Iola about two years ago, then had to flee home with her children as the victims of domestic violence.
She has not yet qualified for disability due to her illness because she has not yet begun her latest round of treatment for the lupus. Her attorney anticipates Colston will need to undergo her upcoming treatments for at least 90 days before shell qualify.
Meanwhile, she gets an occasional child support payment, and relies on the help of organizations like Humanity House to make ends meet.
