Treasurer Steiner Condemns Federal Administration’s Decision to Withhold Food Stamp Benefits During Government Shutdown

Oregon Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner, MD condemned the administration’s decision to stop Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the government shutdown. The administration has notified states that SNAP benefits will not be paid to beneficiaries in November.

Treasurer Steiner said, “It is immoral and inexcusable for Republicans in the administration and in Congress to hold our most economically vulnerable children, seniors, and other people hostage during the shutdown. No one in America should go hungry so Republicans can make health care more expensive and harder to get and billionaires can pay less in taxes. Stopping SNAP payments will leave millions of American families with empty cupboards and empty stomachs. This decision is an absolute abdication of the federal government’s responsibility to families in Oregon and across the United States who are struggling to make ends meet.”

More than 750,000 Oregonians rely on SNAP to put food on the table and stave off hunger. More than half of SNAP beneficiaries are children, seniors, and people with disabilities.

SNAP benefits bring revenue into the economies of local communities across Oregon. More than 3,500 retailers statewide participate in SNAP, generating $1.50 to $1.80 in economic activity for every dollar spent.

Treasury officials said that the federal administration’s decision to suspend SNAP payments to states is not expected to have any immediate impact on Oregon’s financial stability and cashflow. The state serves as passthrough payor to beneficiaries for the more than $990 million in SNAP benefits the federal government pays to Oregonians each biennium. Without state resources to backfill the suspended federal payments, SNAP beneficiaries will lose the funds that fill the shortfall in their monthly food budgets.