Minnesota officials say those on the SNAP (food stamp) program, because of the federal shutdown, will see February benefits loaded onto their E-B-T cards about 10 days early. State Human Services Commissioner Tony Lourey (LOR-ee) cautions, “The trouble for recipients is that typically a recipient of food supports runs out of those food supports after about the third week of the month.” Because benefits will be loaded early, recipients might exhaust them a couple weeks earlier than usual. Lourey advises SNAP recipients if possible to budget-out their benefits by using additional sources of nutrition so they don’t run into a difficult situation at the end of next month.
As for what happens with March SNAP benefits if the shutdown continues, Lourey says “there is no solution right now.” The Walz administration is trying to determine whether the federal government would reimburse Minnesota, if the legislature stepped in with “bridge” funding estimated at 40 million dollars per month.