BOSTON — Sen. John Cronin, who represents Westford, joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate to call on President Donald Trump to use his authority to keep federal funds flowing to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, before people in need begin losing access to food aid this month.
The resolutions, known as Senate Bill S.2688, was approved with bipartisan support on Oct. 30. The Senate said the approval vote took place the same day the state approved $4 million towards local food banks, doubling their allotment and helping to address the impending crisis.
“Today I joined 152 of my colleagues in the Legislature in a bipartisan letter to President Trump — signed by every Republican member of the Senate — calling on the president to fund SNAP benefits for 1 million Massachusetts residents,” Cronin announced. “President Trump has the authority and congressionally appropriated funds to unilaterally continue federal food assistance during this government shutdown. President Trump, don’t play politics with our most vulnerable — fund SNAP!”
The resolutions call on Trump to “use all existing authority to supplement and transfer available funds to sustain supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits throughout the duration of the ongoing federal government shutdown.
Many SNAP recipients have been at risk of losing their benefits since the beginning of November, following the federal government shutdown in Washington D.C.
The Senate said this shutdown differs from other shutdowns when SNAP recipients were not impacted.
As a result, the Senate said around 1 million SNAP recipients in Massachusetts could face difficulty affording basic nutrition, with seniors, children and people with disabilities expected to be disproportionally impacted.
“Emergency food providers across the Commonwealth have already reported sharp increases in demand, and while the legislature and administration have expanded investments in state based anti-hunger initiatives, including the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program and Universal School Meals and the Healthy Incentives Program, the Commonwealth cannot absorb the $210,000,000 per month in federal SNAP payments that would be lost if not funded during the ongoing federal government shutdown,” the Senate said in its resolutions.
The Senate said a SNAP shutdown could also impact Massachusetts’ economy, as SNAP purchases comprise a major portion of grocery sales at farmers’ markets, neighborhood stores, and supermarkets around the state, with over 5,500 Massachusetts retailers participating in SNAP.
These Senate resolutions were adopted by the Senate and were sent by the Senate Clerk to Trump.
