By Alex Ross — New Mexico Democratic Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan on Thursday disputed claims made by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that they lack the funds to cover the cost of next month’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Heinrich and Lujan were among 45 Democratic Senators who signed onto a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who said the USDA has several options to ensure that SNAP benefits are funded up through the end of November. They include using contingency funds designated for SNAP or transferring money from other nutrition programs to SNAP, such as what USDA officials did with Women’s Infants Children (WIC) during the shutdown.
“Any halt in SNAP funding will have devastating impacts for program beneficiaries, increasing food insecurity and undermining family budgets. Given the critical importance of SNAP benefits, the USDA must take all steps possible to ensure that families do not go hungry,” the letter stated.
New Mexico Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo told a committee last week that the USDA informed her agency that if the shutdown persisted, they would not have funding available to disperse to states to pay out SNAP benefits due to the ongoing government shutdown.
A press release from Lujan’s office on Thursday stated that more than 450,000 New Mexicans depend on SNAP, including over 65,000 seniors and 200,000 children. The average monthly SNAP payment benefit for an individual is $190, and New Mexico would need $81 million a month to provide those benefits to state residents if federal money for the program is halted.
During a special legislative session earlier this month, New Mexico legislators backfilled $16.6 million in one-time spending for SNAP benefits slated to expire at the end of October.