Virginia families face increased hunger risk from government shutdown

Over 850,000 Virginians risk losing access to SNAP federal food assistance because of the government shutdown.

Ariele Robinson works two retail jobs and recently got another in nursing taking care of the elderly. But it’s still not enough for the mother of four to get by in Richmond. 

“Whenever I get an extra $20 or $30, it goes to food,” Robinson said. “I go to Dollar General and try to get noodles, things for like $1.25 to stock up.”

Audrey Cunningham faces a similar situation in Tazewell County, where she and her fiance deliver Walmart groceries and take care of their three children. But with their van in the shop, their main source of income is on hold for the moment.

“We really want to get back to doing our deliveries to get money to buy food,” Cunningham said. 

The hardships faced by Robinson and Cunningham, who shared their stories on a Wednesday press call, illustrates just how important it is for each of them, and the hundreds of thousands of others like them across Virginia, to get the federal food assistance they are entitled to through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

Unfortunately for these families, the ongoing federal government shutdown threatens to cut off this critical lifeline for them in November. Last week, the head of the Trump administration’s US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Secretary Brooke Rollins, said there was not enough funds to provide SNAP benefits in November to the 40 million people who depend on this assistance. 

Robinson said without it, her children would go hungry. Cunningham says her family is stocking up on less expensive and less healthy foods. Both urged the government to find a way to make sure SNAP is funded. 

“We always find a way,” Cunningham said of her family. “But I’m really just asking the government to please fund the program.”

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday declared a state of emergency to provide emergency hunger relief for the more than 850,000 Virginians who rely on SNAP. The state of emergency lets the Youngkin expend emergency funds to protect the health, welfare and safety of Virginians, according to a press release.

The release did not include details about how long and to what extent the state funding could support Virginia’s SNAP program.   

About 35,000 veterans who live in households that get SNAP benefits, according to Rodrigo Soto, the legislative and campaigns director at the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis. About 67% of Virginia’s SNAP recipients are in families with children and those households get an average of $506 a month in SNAP benefits, he said. 

“Halting benefits will force people to make incredibly difficult decisions in the coming weeks and overwhelm already under resourced safety net providers like food banks,” Soto said on the call. 

Republicans are blaming Democrats for the shutdown and pain it is exerting on working people. Democrats, like US Rep. Jennifer McClellan of Virginia’s 4th congressional district, say  Republicans are to blame given their control of all three branches of government. 

Democrats want Republicans to agree to extend tax credits for Affordable Care Act health care plans that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year as part of legislation that would re-open the federal government.

Letting the tax credits expire would result in more expensive monthly payments for people already struggling to make ends meet and push tens of thousands of Virginians off their health care plans entirely. 

“Instead of coming to the table to negotiate on a budget that lowers the cost of living for Americans and addresses the looming Republican-caused health care crisis, President Trump is rewarding foreign politicians who say nice things about him to the tune of billions of dollars,” McLellan said, referencing Trump’s $20 billion bailout for Argentina.

The threat to  vital food assistance comes as many Virginians are already struggling to afford groceries, not to mention other basic necessities. On Wednesday’s call, Virginia food bank operators warned about the increasingly high demand for food donations. 

Eddie Oliver, the executive director of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, said food pantry visits were up 20% across the state last year, and in many regions, the demand is even higher than it was at the peak of the pandemic. Oliver said for every meal a food bank distributes, SNAP provides nine meals. 

“There is simply no way that we can make up significant gaps or losses to that program,” Oliver said on the call.