With 1 million Bay Staters expected to lose public food assistance benefits next week due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, state leaders and the United Way announced a relief fund Friday seeking private donations to help address hunger.
Gov. Maura Healey said 32% of the residents who will not receive SNAP benefits starting Nov. 1 are children, 31% are people with disabilities and 26% are seniors.
“Let me be clear: Neither the state nor any organization here is going to be able to backfill SNAP benefits,” said Healey at a press conference at Nubian Markets in Roxbury, surrounded by nonprofit and anti-hunger leaders.
The governor continued, “I talk to governors all around the country – no states can backfill what is supposed to come from the federal government to families across America, and this is very challenging. Very, very challenging.”
Massachusetts receives about $240 million monthly for SNAP benefits, Healey said. She said other presidents have made decisions to keep SNAP benefits going during past government shutdowns and called on President Donald Trump to do the same.
In an Oct. 10 notice, the U.S. Department of Agriculture instructed state SNAP directors to hold off on taking the steps necessary for November benefit payments as federal officials worried about money running out. At least 25 states will stop delivering food aid on Nov. 1, according to POLITICO.
The federal government shutdown began Oct. 1, and Senate Democrats have rejected multiple stopgap spending measures as they fight for health care subsidies.
House Speaker Ron Mariano said Friday that “SNAP benefits are entirely funded by the federal government, making it impossible for state government to replace them.”
“The House will continue to monitor President Trump’s actions and do all that it can to offset them here in Massachusetts, but the reality is that only President Trump and Congressional Republicans have the ability to end the pain that they are choosing to inflict by reopening the government,” he continued.
When the federal government ended universal free school meals in the 2022-2023 school year, Massachusetts lawmakers adopted the program at a considerable cost to cover meals for every student, regardless of family income. The Senate and House this month approved an additional $12 million for costs of the free school meal program in fiscal year 2025, which already cost the state $168 million.
Turning to a similar playbook that Massachusetts has used to handle natural disasters and strain on the emergency assistance family shelter system, the state again teamed up with United Way on Friday to launch the “United Respond Fund.”
“Our goal is to raise money and invest it back out to organizations that are not only making sure food is available, but that it actually is accessible in communities, that it can be delivered to where it needs to be, that it ends up in people’s homes the way it needs to end up,” United Way of Massachusetts Bay CEO Marty Martinez said.
While Democrats in Congress blame the GOP for the stalemate in Washington, Republicans are similarly blasting the “Democrat shutdown,” each saying it’s the other party that is grinding progress to a halt.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley were in East Boston on Friday at anti-hunger organization Project Bread railing against their Republican colleagues in Congress and Trump.
“This will be the first time in American history where a government shutdown shuts off SNAP food assistance, and it is all because of Donald Trump’s cruelty, and MAGA Republicans kneeling to Donald Trump and his cruelty,” Markey said.
Jen Letterman, chief policy officer at Project Bread, similarly framed the cuts to food aid as a specific policy decision made by Republicans.
“Let’s be clear, this is not an inevitable consequence of the shutdown. It is a political choice, and one that should be reversed today, a single decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Trump administration,” she said.
The think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates the USDA has about $5 billion in contingency reserves, and mayors around the country sent a letter to the Trump administration calling for them to reach into those reserves to provide at least partial benefits for November.
Healey echoed those calls Friday, saying Trump is making a choice “to take food away from people.”
“I ask the president, the administration to release those contingency funds for the duration of the shutdown so that people can be fed,” Healey said.
Anti-hunger organizations plan to rally at the State House on Tuesday to call on state and federal officials to fully fund SNAP. If federal funding lapses, they’re calling on state officials to tap into the $8 billion Stabilization Fund.
Alison Kuznitz and Sam Drysdale are reporters for State House News Service and State Affairs Pro Massachusetts. Reach them at akuznitz@stateaffairs.com or sdrysdale@statehousenews.com.
