This story has been updated.
Thousands of Connecticut households will see their SNAP benefits restored within the next few days, possibly as early as Saturday, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office announced Friday.
The governor, who has been reluctant to spend state funds on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also pledged to keep the program running for the next three weeks, even if federal funding stalls again during that period.
The governor addressed reporters following an 11:30 a.m. press conference in East Hartford on housing issues and said that he’s directed the state Department of Social Services, which administers the nutrition assistance program, “to fully fund SNAP through the end of November.”
“Stop dragging it out,” a frustrated Lamont said Friday, referring to President Donald Trump’s administration and its freeze of SNAP benefits since the partial federal government shutdown entered its second month on Nov. 1.
“They’ve been on again, off again, on again, off again, on, snapping it in partial payment, a full payment. I just authorized our department. We’re going to fully fund SNAP through the end of November. We’ll see what happens from there.”
It was unclear later Friday afternoon, though, how much state funding, if any, would be needed to cover the $72 million in SNAP benefits normally distributed here each month.
About 90 minutes after Lamont committed Connecticut funds, if needed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service notified states it would begin the process of again funding benefits with federal dollars.
“Later today, FNS will complete the processes necessary to make funds available to support your subsequent transmission of full” benefits, it wrote in a memorandum.
But that memo is just part of a confusing stream of often contradictory signals from the Trump administration over the past week when it comes to funding nutrition assistance.
FNS told a federal district judge on Monday it would comply with a court order and utilize SNAP contingency funds. These would be sufficient to fund partial benefits for one month.
Then the Trump administration indicated it would pay full benefits, which would exhaust the contingency sooner, at some point in the future — while simultaneously challenging the district court ruling in a federal appeals court.
The appellate court rejected Trump’s bid to stall SNAP benefits late Friday, the New York Times reported. But the administration still could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lamont spokesman Rob Blanchard said the governor is committed to restarting full SNAP benefits in Connecticut and keeping them in place at least through the end of November, regardless of whether the Trump administration follows through with federal funding.
“Ensuring that those who count on SNAP will receive their full benefits was a priority for the governor, and he was growing impatient by the lack of action by the federal government,” Blanchard said.
Lamont has been criticized over the past two weeks both by his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly’s majority and by Republicans who said he did too little to safeguard the roughly 360,000 Connecticut residents who normally receive SNAP benefits.
The governor did contribute $3 million from state funds to Connecticut Foodshare, a nonprofit that distributes surplus groceries from the food industry to pantries, meal programs and other related services across the state. But Foodshare’s president and CEO, Jason Jakubowski, said on Connecticut Public Radio this week that the state’s network of food pantries is equipped to cover roughly one-eighth of the need created by the suspension of SNAP benefits.
The average Connecticut household receives an average of $324 per month from SNAP, according to social services officials.
The General Assembly will meet in special session next week to reserve $500 million from last fiscal year’s $2.5 billion state budget surplus to bolster SNAP and other federal human service programs facing funding restrictions related to the ongoing government shutdown.
And some state legislators were frustrated to hear that measure would not mandate the use of state funds to bolster these programs — rather, it only would reserve them and leave the decision whether to spend them up to Lamont.
The governor, a fiscal moderate, has traditionally objected to using state funds to supplement programs normally funded by the federal government.
But Lamont won praise Friday for committing state funds to combat hunger, especially given the uncertainty of federal funding.
“I think it’s welcome [news] for the residents of the state, for my neighbors, who have been without food for a week in some cases,” said state Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, co-chairman of the Human Services Committee and one of the lawmakers who argued Lamont’s original response to the crisis was too modest.
“It’s a very good sign and unfortunately very necessary because of the volatility of the responses from the Trump administration,” said Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven.
“Relief for vulnerable Connecticut families is what matters most,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding. “We must prioritize people, not politics.”
CT For All, a progressive coalition of more than 60 faith, labor and other civic groups, often has charged Lamont with refusing to tap Connecticut’s great wealth to better fund human services, education, health care and other core programs.
Besides the $500 million left from last fiscal year’s surplus, Connecticut has $4.3 billion in its rainy day fund, one of the larger emergency reserves of any state. Analysts also are projecting another big surplus, almost $1.8 billion, this fiscal year.
CT For All’s director, Norma Martinez HoSang, said Friday that “Gov. Lamont is finally listening to the thousands of phone calls, emails, and visits to his office. And while we applaud the decision to fund SNAP for 30 days, the 7 extra days it took the Governor to come to this decision represented a week of unnecessary anxiety to CT families. “