State of emergency announced for Delaware SNAP benefits

Gov. Matt Meyer announced Oct. 29 that he will issue a state of emergency to fill in for federal food assistance funds scheduled to expire Saturday, Nov. 1, while blaming the Trump Administration for this predicament.

“Now more than ever the Trump Administration has made it clear that they have no interest in supporting American working families. Delaware families cannot eat political promises,” Meyer said.

Meyer said he is hopeful litigation filed by Delaware and other states Oct. 28 to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program operating will be successful in the short term, but he is taking action just in case.

Meyer said he is declaring a state of emergency to provide SNAP benefits on a week-to-week basis starting next week.

Normally, he said, Delaware gets $21.6 million per month for the state’s 120,000 SNAP card recipients. Per week, that comes out to about $5.3 million.

“We believe that we have the resources to fully fund SNAP through the month of November if it’s necessary,” he said.

Meyer also pledged state assistance to food banks and pantries and encouraged churches and other organizations to pitch in to provide for any individuals who have fallen through the cracks, such as the hundreds of federal workers who have been furloughed.

Finally, Meyer called on the state legislature to convene for a special session to address the $400 million revenue shortfall recently predicted over the next three years by state economic forecasters.

In his first budget, Meyer said he included contingency funds to cover potential federal cuts, which were not considered by the legislature. 

“So we’re in the financial situation we are. We are in crisis,” he said. “I hope this next session, our recommendations to account for this chaos do not fall on deaf ears.”

In a related legislative issue, Meyer said he supports decoupling the state tax code from the federal tax code with respect to bonus depreciation for businesses, a tax incentive for business under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which resulted in a drop in state corporate tax revenue.

A statement sent by bipartisan leadership in the General Assembly said they were grateful for Meyer’s support of SNAP.

“We are also glad to hear that food assistance programs across the state, including the Food Bank of Delaware, will be receiving extra help. These institutions have been important partners to our state in combating hunger, and with rising food insecurity continuing to stretch their capacity, this assistance will help them continue to meet the urgent needs of our most vulnerable neighbors,” said the statement signed by Democrat and Republican leadership in both the House and Senate.

The statement, however, did not mention whether the General Assembly will return to session, following Meyer’s call.

Meanwhile, he said his administration is going line-by-line through the state operating budget looking for available cash.

SNAP is among a slate of federal programs that will no longer be funded after Nov. 1, unless the U.S. Senate can pass a continuing resolution to fund them. The House passed the resolution in September, but it has failed 13 times in the Senate, the most recently Oct. 28 by a 54-45 vote. The resolution needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate.

Delaware’s Sen. Chris Coons and Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester are among the Democrat hold outs who have voted against the resolution. In a CSPAN interview, Coons said the shutdown is principally a fight over increasing healthcare benefits under the Affordable Care Act.

Although Meyer is committed to funding SNAP benefits, he said the state does not have enough money to fund every federal program affected by the shutdown.

“We do not have the funds to fund all those programs in perpetuity,” he said.

Meyer said the shutdown cuts across party lines, and both sides should heed its effects.

“It’s not a blue state or red state thing, we’ve got to make sure we’re prioritizing our people,” he said.