by Donald Eng CTNewsJunkie
HARTFORD, CT — Governor Ned Lamont is one of 23 state governors that sent a letter to Congressional leadership urging them to support the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which puts food on the table for millions of Americans, and warning that current proposals under consideration in Congress threaten the ability of states to continue this program.
In the letter, the group warned of increased hunger and poverty, worsening health and economic hardship for those in the agricultural and retail grocery industries.
“A cut in federal funding for the nation’s food and nutrition assistance program poses a serious threat to the ability of thousands of Connecticut adults and children to access the food and nutrition they need,” Lamont said. “I urge Congressional Republicans to scrap this plan and support SNAP and the millions of Americans who depend on it for their health and survival.”
SNAP provides vital food benefits to more than 42 million Americans, including more than 230,000 households in Connecticut, according to Lamont’s office. For as long as the program has existed, the federal government has funded 100% of the food benefit costs and 50% of the administrative costs of each state’s SNAP program.
Congressional Republicans are now proposing to force states to absorb up to 25% of the costs of their SNAP program, which could amount to $132 million annually in Connecticut. The cost shift to the states is unprecedented in SNAP’s 50-year history and jeopardizes the program in any state that cannot absorb this new mandate from Washington.
The letter goes on to state that in addition to increasing the financial burden on states, the cuts make it impossible to effectively plan for the long term budget impacts of the cuts.
“States, which must balance their budgets by law, will not know how much funding will be needed to maintain SNAP until three months before the bill comes due,” according to the letter. “Strained state budgets cannot backfill these cuts, especially as Congress simultaneously proposes to slash Medicaid, disaster relief, and other federally funded safety net programs.”