MILWAUKEE (CN) - Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Wednesday accused President Donald Trump of withholding funds that could keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program going during the government shutdown and urged him to act swiftly.
On Wednesday, the governor sent a letter to Trump and United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, urging them to act quickly to temporarily fund the program through November.
"Empty cupboards and stomachs are not abstract outcomes," Evers said in the letter. "They are very real and near consequences of the dysfunction in Washington. These are also consequences you can prevent today."
The second-longest government shutdown in American history, now stretching 22 days, began when Democrats refused to back a GOP-led measure to extend funding across the government for another month, called a continuing resolution, in lieu of a regular appropriation bill.
Congressional Democrats say they will only support a resolution that includes another extension for Affordable Care Act subsidies created by former President Joe Biden's 2021 American Rescue Plan Act.
The government shutdown has caused federal courts to grind to a halt, caused huge losses in the market, and now has put the federally funded SNAP in jeopardy across the country.
If the stalemate continues, 700,000 Wisconsinites who rely on the FoodShare program will not receive benefits in November after the administration instructed states not to process SNAP benefits and to "delay transmission to state EBT vendors until further notice."
He suggested the administration take the money from another USDA program, pointing to a federal law that gives the USDA the authority to transfer funds between nutrition programs to sustain SNAP benefits during a lapse in appropriations.
The governor accused Trump in the letter of withholding readily available funds that could preserve SNAP, arguing that there is no justification for allowing it to lapse after his administration used $300 million in tariff revenues to keep the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, operating during the shutdown.
"The Trump administration must immediately use every legal option available to it to maintain food security and continuity in Wisconsin and to develop immediate solutions to mitigate any preventable lapse in providing basic necessities like food and groceries to kids, families, veterans and seniors across our state," Evers said.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says nearly two-thirds of the funds needed are available now in SNAP's contingency fund and could be released.
Wisconsin's FoodShare program distributes more than $1.3 billion each year across the state. In November alone, over $114 million would have been sent out for basic food and grocery needs, based on 2024 numbers provided by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Instead, the department is urging recipients to use their Quest cards to stock up on food before the end of the month, as even unused funds from October may not roll over to November as they typically would.
Approximately 42 million Americans - that's 1 in 8 people - who rely on SNAP will be left scrambling in November for basic food and groceries as the shutdown stretches into the holiday season with no end in sight.
Evers pinned the blame on Trump's allies in a statement on Tuesday, where he announced that the FoodShare program would run out of money by the end of the month: "Republicans appear poised to allow the shutdown to continue even as 78% of Americans and nearly 60% of Republicans support extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits."
The subsidies are an expanded form of tax credit available to higher-income taxpayers who rely on marketplace plans. The expansion allowed those with income above 400% of the federal poverty line to claim credits through 2025, opening the marketplace up and shrinking the number of uninsured across the country.
Research firm KFF predicts that without the subsidies, the cost of a marketplace insurance plan could go up almost 20% in 2026. Over 40 million Americans have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, including 24 million enrolled in the marketplace during the 2025 open enrollment.
In Wisconsin, more than 314,000 people signed up for insurance through the marketplace. Most - almost 90% - of those enrollees qualified for the subsidies, according to Evers.
Democrats say the subsidy has to be made permanent, rather than kicking the can down the road for another year, as the Inflation Reduction Act did in 2024. Until a deal can be made on the subsidies and a rollback of Medicaid cuts, the shutdown will drag on.
"No person should ever go hungry - most especially not in the United States of America," Evers said in a press release issued Tuesday. "President Trump and Republicans in Congress must work across the aisle and end this shutdown now so Wisconsinites and Americans across our country have access to basic necessities like food and groceries that they need to survive."
Even if the shutdown ends tomorrow, benefits will be severely delayed until the vendor that distributes the federal dollars to Wisconsin and 40 other states can get organized, according to Evers' office.
In response to a request for comment, Courthouse News received an automated message from the USDA: "Due to staff furloughs resulting from the radical left Democrat shutdown, the typical monitoring of this press inbox may be impacted. ... As you wait for a response, please remember these delays could have been avoided had Senate Democrats supported the clean continuing resolution to fund the government."
Source: Courthouse News Service
