Contingency Funds Aren’t Legally Available for Food Stamps: House Speaker

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Oct. 27 that $5 billion in contingency funds likely cannot be used by the federal government to cover the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is set to expire on Nov. 1.

“The SNAP benefits is a unique situation,” Johnson told reporters on Oct. 27, referring to the Trump administration’s decision to not tap the funds to support food stamps during the government shutdown.

“I got a summary of the whole legal analysis, and it looks legitimate to me, that the contingency funds are not legally available to cover the benefits right now.”

He said the reason for the decision is the fact that the emergency fund “is a finite source” that was congressionally appropriated.

“If they [transfer] funds from these other sources, it pulls it away immediately from school meals and infant formula,” Johnson said.

“So it’s a trade-off.”

SNAP benefits have never lapsed in modern U.S. history, including during government shutdowns. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and some states have warned that the benefits will not get paid on Nov. 1 if the shutdown persists.

In a recent message posted on its website, the USDA stated that SNAP benefits will not be sent out on Nov. 1.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” it stated.

The agency’s message blamed Senate Democrats.

A memo issued by the USDA states that the contingency fund was designed to respond to unpredictable events and that the shutdown does not qualify.

“The contingency fund is a source of funds for contingencies, such as the Disaster SNAP program, which provides food purchasing benefits for individuals in disaster areas, including natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, that can come on quickly and without notice,” the memo states.

It cites Hurricane Melissa as an example of why it is important to have the money available to mobilize quickly in the event of a disaster. The Category 5 storm in the Caribbean Sea is threatening to wreak devastation across Jamaica, Cuba, and several other countries.

The shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record. Democrats have said they will not agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act—former President Barack Obama’s health care law, also known as Obamacare. Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before any negotiations take place.

Amid the warnings on the benefits running dry, some members of Congress, including Senate Republicans, have suggested a separate bill that would fund SNAP on a stand-alone basis if needed this week.

On Oct. 26, some Democrats accused Republicans and the Trump administration of not wanting to negotiate.

“The reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on Oct. 26 on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“We could open up the government on [Oct. 28] or [Oct. 29], and there wouldn’t be any crisis in the food stamp program.”

In an interview on Oct. 26 with CBS News, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said negotiations are pointless because he believes that Democrats have dug in on their positions.

“I don’t know what good it does to summon them to the White House,” Bessent said, referring to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“Both of them are worried about their primaries, and not the American people, not the government employees, not our military employees, because we were able to pay the military employees from excess funds at the Pentagon, middle of this month.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.