As the ongoing federal government shutdown stretches to nearly a month long, millions nationwide have been feeling the burn from Washington’s fecklessness and inaction. From ground stoppages at our airports thanks to air-traffic controller shortages, to delays in critical energy assistance programs, the ramifications of this shutdown are inescapable.
Perhaps most critically of all is the threat posed to our food assistance programs, like WIC and SNAP, which keep millions of American families fed, further providing business to countless retailers, grocers and farmers alike. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cares for over 76,000 individuals in the Granite State. That’s nearly 42,000 households, with 31,000 children implicated. In New Hampshire, the average household can count on $306 a month from SNAP to keep them and their children from going hungry. Those families can no longer count on those critical supports to care for their most basic human needs.
Nationwide, states are stepping up to the plate and picking up the federal government’s slack by providing their own funds to pack the wounds inflicted by Washington. The State of California plans to release $80 million to food banks and is deploying the national guard to assist in distribution. The State of Louisiana is similarly releasing $150 million, and now New Hampshire is joining the pack in allocating $2 million to provide reimbursement to the New Hampshire Food Bank and its 417 local partners.
It remains unclear if any of us will be made whole for fronting the money withheld by Washington — our money, that we send to them, for our benefit. Meanwhile, as Washington doles out $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and doles out $40 billion to Argentinian soy and beef farmers, our American compatriots are fighting for scraps because D.C. bureaucrats are wringing their hands over continuing ACA subsidies which keep your healthcare premiums from doubling or tripling.
To add insult to injury, the USDA is sitting on $5 billion of reserve funds to maintain WIC and SNAP benefits amid these exact circumstances, but the White House is keeping them under lock and key, for reasons beyond anyone’s understanding.
It could not be any clearer that Americans do not come first under this leadership, only partisan political priorities, and friends with deep pockets. Rest assured, New Hampshire leaders and the Senate Democrats will always put you and your family above all with our “More Money in Your Pocket” agenda. Within a matter of days, thanks to our votes in favor in the Fiscal Committee, Granite Staters can expect to see and hear about mobile food pantries providing enhanced food aid to our 76,000 SNAP beneficiaries, so they don’t starve.
If the shutdown persists and stretches into the holiday season, it remains uncertain what the path forward may be. In New Hampshire, the food aid program for Women Infants and Children, another critical lifeline to vulnerable granite staters, is only funded until Nov. 10, and this $2 million package will only carry SNAP until December.
If we are put in that unenviable position by Washington, your Democratic leaders are ready and eager to fight for you, your neighbors and your family, armed with solutions and humanity — not just mere “concepts of a plan” and without our own agenda. In times like these, our priorities ought to be taking care of and feeding our children and families, as opposed to spending $27 million annually giving tuition assistance to the wealthy in service of a larger political agenda. We have the money to satisfy these basic needs, it’s just a simple matter of who controls the purse, and where their true priorities lie.
Senator Tara Reardon is a resident of Concord and is serving her first term in the New Hampshire Senate, representing Concord, Bow and Hopkinton. Senator Reardon had previously served seven terms in the New Hampshire House, is a retired attorney, and had previously served as vice president at the Community Loan Fund.