New Mexico braces for SNAP delays, governor calls for end to shutdown

New Mexico food banks are preparing to meet increased demand as 21% of New Mexicans face the possibility of losing food assistance in November.

“For every meal provided by a food bank, the (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) provides nine,” said Jill Dixon, executive director of The Food Depot, which serves nine counties in northern New Mexico. “So the scale of this crisis is at a whole new level.”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, provides an average of $310 per month to help New Mexicans buy groceries. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not deliver November benefits because of the government shutdown.

Democrats in Congress have called for the USDA to use its roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep SNAP benefits at least partially funded in November, but a memo from the agency said contingency funds are not “legally available to cover regular benefits.” The memo contradicts a now-deleted USDA shutdown contingency plan.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general suing Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for the plan to suspend SNAP instead of using the contingency funds.

On Saturday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said “the federal government’s refusal to pay for SNAP benefits in November is unconscionable.”

“The best way to solve this crisis is for Congress to end this shutdown and do its job,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Until then, New Mexico will do everything in our power to keep our families fed, and we will provide updates as more information becomes available.”

Lujan Grisham’s administration is expediting $8 million that was allocated for food banks, she said. SNAP benefits in New Mexico cost $80 million to $90 million a month.

The state is still weighing its options and coordinating with partners to determine what steps to take if November SNAP benefits are delayed, according to Health Care Authority spokeswoman Marina Piña.

The Health Care Authority has notified The Food Depot that there are 31,000 households that receive SNAP benefits in the area it serves, Dixon said, so the nonprofit is scaling up its operations as much as possible.

“We’ve purchased an additional multiple truckloads of food, brought them into our warehouse. We’re trying to give additional resources to our food pantry agencies and make sure that they’re ready to handle additional volume. And our team is actively working on adding distributions and making sure that we have the resources to scale up our existing distributions.”

November is a time of year when more people turn to food banks for many reasons, Dixon said, including that children are out of school for holidays so they get fewer school-provided meals.

The food bank’s agency partners have seen as much as a 20% increase in people using their services in recent weeks, Dixon said. The federal shutdown, which has delayed paychecks for many, and compounding economic pressure are likely the reasons, she said.

Dixon has been in food banking for 13 years, and this is the first time in her experience that SNAP benefits would be interrupted at a 100% level.

The state has been very supportive of food banks, she said, and The Food Depot is using state funding that was allocated during the regular Legislative session earlier this year to help accelerate purchasing. Additional funds allocated during the special session earlier this month will likely be available in the near future, she said.

“We’re thrilled that that is at our disposal right now. But it is worth noting that was funding that was intended for other core operations, and this is sort of superseding those,” Dixon said.

Roadrunner Food Bank, which distributes food to partnering nonprofits across much of the state, is also increasing the amount of food it’s purchasing, said Katy Anderson, vice president of strategy, partnership and advocacy, although it cannot replace the food aid provided by SNAP. Normally, the food bank moves 600,000 to 750,000 pounds of food a week, but Anderson expects that number to increase, which will also necessitate more volunteers.

The delay in SNAP benefits could also affect grocery stores where those benefits are redeemed, particularly smaller stores in rural communities, Anderson said.

The stalemate on government funding began on the first day of October, but has yet to beat the record for longest shutdown, which was the 35-day shutdown in 2019. The Republican-led House passed a temporary funding measure that would keep the government funded at the same levels until Nov. 21, but that has stalled in the Senate.

Democrats have demanded negotiation on the funding bill, and introduced their own temporary funding measure that would reverse Medicaid cuts and extend federal health insurance subsidies.

“Choosing not to ensure SNAP benefits reach those in need this November would be a gross dereliction of your responsibilities to the American people,” 214 House Democrats, including New Mexico’s three House representatives, wrote in a letter to the Agriculture secretary on Friday.

“We can’t negotiate through cruelty, and that’s the entire point of why we’re in the shutdown in the first place,” said Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M. “The administration has shown a clear disdain and disregard for federal employees right here in New Mexico, by firing them, by furloughing them, by threatening to withhold their pay. Now they’re threatening to withhold food assistance, and they have the money.”

He wants Republicans to return to the negotiating table and consider extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies.

“When people get sick in the wealthiest country in the world, we should be able to provide them with the health care services that they deserve. And that’s what this fight is about,” Vasquez said.

New Mexico Republican Party Chair Amy Barela said the Senate needs to pass the Republican funding bill and that Democrats need to stop “fear mongering our citizens that they’re going to lose their benefits.”

She does not think the health insurance subsidies, on which Democrats have based much of their holdout, should be extended.

“I think we need to redesign our health care system for the United States, especially here in New Mexico,” Barela said.

She was also critical of House Majority Leader Mike Johnson’s, R-La., decision to keep the House out of session since the shutdown began.

“Not one of them need one day off until this is resolved, and they do not need to get paid while they are there,” Barela said.