State to cover costs of looming SNAP funding freeze for 460,000 residents

For at least 10 days and maybe longer, New Mexico plans to foot the expensive bill to avoid having 460,000 residents lose their food assistance benefits due to an ongoing federal government shutdown.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Wednesday she would tap a $30 million state contingency fund to continue covering food costs for residents enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for a 10-day period starting on Nov. 1.

The governor can legally spend money from the fund by issuing executive orders, something she’s done frequently this year in response to floods and wildfires around New Mexico.

Once the $30 million runs out, if the federal shutdown is still ongoing, the governor said she would consider calling lawmakers back to Santa Fe for a second special session. Legislators already met for a two-day special session this month that focused on crafting a state-level response to a federal budget bill.

“We’re going to choose feeding families over politics in New Mexico,” Lujan Grisham said during a news conference outside an Albuquerque grocery store that she frequented while raising her two daughters.

But she also acknowledged the state cannot cover the costs of SNAP in the long run.

“No state, including this one, can replace federal SNAP benefits,” Lujan Grisham said.

With the federal government shut down since Oct. 1 due to gridlock in Congress, the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to stop delivering November benefits despite a $5 billion contingency fund.

The total cost of providing SNAP benefits in New Mexico has been between $80 million and $90 million per month over the last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. That equates to roughly $1 billion annually, or nearly 10% of the state’s budget.

Key legislators met this week with top staffers and budget officials from the governor’s administration to come up with the plan to respond to the looming SNAP delays.

The plan hinges on the state Health Care Authority, which operates the SNAP program on a day-to-day basis, using an existing state supplement program as a way to load recipients’ benefits directly onto their EBT cards, or benefit debit cards. Those cards can then be used at grocery stores.

If the governor does call a second special session, it could cost an estimated $255 million to continue funding SNAP benefits until the Legislature meets again in mid-January.

The state is unlikely to be reimbursed for any dollars it spends to keep SNAP benefits in place during the federal shutdown, though Lujan Grisham said the state’s congressional delegation would seek such reimbursement.

What’s at stake

More than 20% of state residents participate in the federal food assistance program, which provides an average of $310 per month for qualifying New Mexicans to buy groceries.

While local food banks have been preparing for a surge in demand and some restaurants have announced plans to provide free meals to children, food bank directors and legislators alike say the scale of the SNAP funding freeze means such efforts will likely not be enough to meet statewide hunger needs.

Of the 460,204 residents who qualified for SNAP benefits last month, a total of 169,448 — or about 36.8% — were children under age 18, according to state Health Care Authority data. An additional 51,498 were individuals age 65 or older.

New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, this week accused President Donald Trump’s administration of using the SNAP funding freeze as a negotiating tactic.

“We’re going to work like hell to protect our residents from what’s coming, but this is Trump’s doing and people need to know that,” Martínez said in an interview.

Martinez and other Democratic legislators also spoke at Wednesday’s news conference, which was attended by grocery store workers, food bank leaders and a gaggle of curious shoppers.

Lt. Gov. Howie Morales spoke at the news conference about having to use food stamps while growing up in Silver City due to his parents’ fluctuating income levels.

He also pushed back against criticism of SNAP recipients being lazy, saying such rhetoric is “anti-American.”

Food assistance a hot-button issue

Several members of New Mexico’s all-Democratic congressional delegation have pushed to keep SNAP funded during the federal government shutdown.

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., is leading a Democratic effort in the Senate and spoke alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at a news conference on Wednesday.

“I come from a small farm. I know the difference of good soil and the bullshit that goes in it, and this is the bullshit,” Luján said as he held up a USDA plan from earlier in the year saying that USDA contingency funds could be used for SNAP during a shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., objected to a unanimous consent vote on Luján’s bill. It’s unclear if either Luján’s bill or a bill filed by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri will be considered for a vote before the shutdown ends.

Meanwhile, New Mexico Republicans have criticized members of the congressional delegation for refusing to vote for a GOP-backed plan to reopen the federal government.

Specifically, Senate Republican floor leader William Sharer of Farmington in a recent social media video accused Luján and fellow U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of putting “politics over people” with their votes in Washington, D.C.

But House Speaker Martínez said he supports their stance and urged them not to back down.

“My message to them is to keep up the pressure and keep the federal government accountable,” Martínez told the Journal. “At this point, they’re the only ones doing so.”