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Mass. governor: SNAP benefits fully funded after court victory; United Way fund aids households
Summary
Governor Healy said Massachusetts has secured and distributed SNAP benefits after winning a court challenge and applied for federal funds so eligible recipients receive payments; the state and private donors also opened a United Way response fund that has raised more than $5 million to help food pantries and residents.
As of this morning, I—m happy to report that those SNAP benefits have been fully funded, Governor Healy said, announcing the state had secured federal funding and distributed missed payments to eligible recipients after a federal shutdown and subsequent court action.
Healy said the state sued the federal government over the failure to release SNAP funds during the shutdown and "won," crediting Attorney General Campbell and her team for the legal work. She told reporters the state—s Department of Transitional Assistance worked with a vendor to apply for USDA funds and load cards over the weekend so payments could begin flowing immediately.
The announcement follows a period when, Healy said, more than 1,100,000 people in Massachusetts were at risk of losing SNAP benefits during the federal shutdown. She urged SNAP recipients to use benefits and directed people needing help to resources the state has posted at mass.gov/snapfreeze.
Healy also described parallel private relief efforts. "We worked to immediately set up a United Way response fund," she said, and reported that the fund had received more than $5,000,000 in under two weeks and that money is being distributed to food pantries and community organizations across the commonwealth.
The governor answered questions about the risk of federal reversal or appeals: multiple courts have ruled on the underlying issue, she said, and DTA and its vendor were positioned to continue processing payments. "Anybody who has been eligible to receive SNAP today or who missed their payments last week has received their SNAP benefits now," she told reporters.
Healy cautioned that other federal programs remain affected by the shutdown, naming Head Start and WIC, and noted that hundreds of federal workers in Massachusetts had sought unemployment insurance during the shutdown. She appealed to residents who can help to consider donating to the United Way fund.
The administration did not announce new state-level cash supplements to replace federal SNAP; instead, officials said they had applied for available USDA funds and used the state—s administrative channels to distribute benefits once funds were released.
