Michigan leaders take emergency steps ahead of food aid cutoff

LANSING, Mich.— In a set of emergency moves Thursday, Michigan's elected leaders attempted to direct state tax dollars toward helping about 1.4 million residents cope with the loss of food assistance Saturday because of the ongoing federal government shutdown.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the state would provide $4.5 million to the Food Bank Council of Michigan to feed families. And the Democratic-controlled Senate voted 27-4 in favor of a stopgap proposal, which would allocate $50 million to aiding low-income individuals and households in buying food and $21 million to food banks and other assistance programs that are expecting an onslaught of need.

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, said the Senate plan would support an emergency assistance fund to serve as a "lifeline for families facing uncertainty."

"Our resources are limited, but we have a responsibility to provide for the people of this state," Anthony said.

However, the bill the Senate advanced still has to pass the GOP-led House, and under the Michigan Constitution, the House can't vote on it until it's had the bill in its possession for five days.

The emergency aid faces other challenges, like how the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) would get the money to people who normally use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Likewise, $50 million likely won't meet the full need Michigan has.

The MDHHS said Thursday that it would be able to load funds appropriated by the state Legislature onto the EBT cards used by SNAP participants in Michigan.

The agency, which administers SNAP in the state, would use the same EBT processor that federal funds usually flow through for SNAP payments, and most food assistance participants likely wouldn’t notice any difference, said Erin Stover, a spokeswoman for MDHHS.

The state would need about three days to process and load the funds onto EBT cards, she said. The benefits in Michigan are usually distributed over the first three weeks of the month, depending on a person's Social Security number, so if lawmakers approved the money soon, or the shutdown ended in the next week, only households that get their payments at the start of the month would see a delay.

SNAP payments average $216 million a month in the aggregate in Michigan, according to MDHHS.

'A lot of need'

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said the new spending bill attempted to provide state officials some flexibility in how they try to help people.

"We know that households are going to experience a lot of need in different places," Brinks said. "If there's a way that DHHS can look at this whole ecosystem and try to get dollars into the hands of the folks who need them most, who are most impacted by those really damaging actions at the federal level, this gives them a little bit of flexibility."

Brinks told reporters that the impact of the SNAP pause in Michigan would merely begin on Saturday and would continue to grow after that. Food distribution charities in Michigan have already reported increased demand for food.

Last week, state officials announced that food benefits for 1.4 million Michiganians would be delayed in November due to insufficient funding during the federal shutdown, which began on Oct. 1.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), within Republican President Donald Trump's administration, previously said 42 million people across the country "will not receive their SNAP benefits come Nov. 1." In one statement, the USDA blamed congressional Democrats for "blocking government funding" and specifically said there was no provision that allowed for the states to cover benefits costs and later be reimbursed.

Democrats have contended that the Trump administration's move to pause SNAP benefits represented using hungry people as leverage in government funding negotiations.

In the state Senate on Thursday, Republicans, including Sen. Jonathan Lindsey of Allen, accused Democrats of committing "political theater" by proposing the emergency aid bill just days before SNAP benefits would be halted on Saturday.

Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, noted that Senate Democrats could have inserted the appropriations into a bill that had already passed the House, meaning it wouldn't require five additional days of sitting in the House before a vote.

"This is all just political posturing," said Runestad, who's also chairman of the Michigan Republican Party.

Runestad was among four Republicans who opposed the bill on Thursday. The others were Sens. Joe Bellino of Monroe, Dan Lauwers of Brockway Township and Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township, who is running for governor.

Whitmer weighs in

On Thursday, Whitmer announced both the money for the Food Bank Council and a letter to Trump from 21 governors asking his administration to prevent SNAP disruption.

"Halting SNAP benefits will put millions of Americans at risk of hunger and poverty," Whitmer said in a statement. "SNAP is more than just a food assistance program, it’s a lifeline. It helps families put nutritious food on the table, supports local farmers and grocers, and strengthens our communities and economy.

"The USDA’s decision to delay SNAP assistance is unacceptable, and we urge the White House to provide the necessary funding to feed vulnerable Americans — our neighbors, family, and friends — in need."

Whitmer's separate press release on the food bank money featured a quote from Republican House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township. In it, Hall said state government can only make up so much of the federal government’s spending.

"Congress must follow our lead and keep more Michigan families from being hurt by this shutdown," Hall said.

Also, in the House, Rep. Ann Bollin, a Brighton Township Republican who leads the House budget process, said state officials had been informed Thursday morning that the state budget office would be issuing a directive to the Department of Health and Human Services ordering the release of $4.5 million to the Food Bank Council of Michigan.

Those funds would be distributed to food banks in the state’s 83 counties, she said.

The state House has no immediate plans to pass a spending bill in light of the budget office directive, Bollin said.

"That will help kind of get us over the hump and move us forward with this Nov. 1 deadline,” Bollin said Thursday. “We are encouraging the federal government to do the right thing, for them to quit playing partisan politics and do what the state did, at least have some kind of continuing resolution.”

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