Anti-hunger advocates are focused on Gov. Ned Lamont in their push to intensify aid for tens of thousands of residents who have lost federal nutrition benefits since July.

But while lawmakers put another $50 million in a special fund to bolster human services programs weakened by Congress and President Donald Trump, Lamont was noncommittal this week about the next step, if any, Connecticut will take.

“I want to do everything I can to protect the vulnerable,” the governor told reporters outside the Capitol on Monday.

Lamont, a fiscal moderate, has been reluctant to create a state-funded benefit to assist former recipients of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Instead, he’s tried to ease pressure by boosting state aid to food banks and pantries.

“Let me take a look if we’re not getting the job done” with that approach, the governor added.

The “job” is Connecticut’s response to federal cutbacks to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP. Congress and Trump last year decided veterans, unhoused individuals, young adults transitioning from foster care and parents of minor children age 14 and older are no longer exempt from work requirements. They also cut benefits for certain legal immigrants.

According to the state Department of Social Services, slightly fewer than 322,800 residents received SNAP benefits in March, down from about 344,200 in November 2025 — the last month before federal changes started removing people from the program.

And while many factors could have pushed about 21,400 recipients off SNAP, anti-hunger advocates say the federal rule changes were the driving factor, and they fear the number likely will grow.

Lamont ordered $3 million in emergency funding last October for Connecticut Foodshare, a nonprofit that distributes surplus groceries from the food industry to pantries, meal programs and other related services across the state. That was in addition to the $2 million in support he and the legislature included in this fiscal year’s budget.

And after lawmakers in November used $500 million in state surplus to create a special response fund to temper federal cuts to human services programs, Lamont ordered more assistance in December, including $24.6 million to assist food banks and pantries during the following 18 months and $4.7 million to the United Way of Connecticut’s 2-1-1 information line and to nonprofit community action agencies to help direct SNAP recipients understand new eligibility rules or find additional forms of assistance.

Foodshare’s President and CEO Jason Jakubowski said on Connecticut Public Radio last November that the state’s network of food banks and pantries was equipped to cover roughly one-eighth of the need created by the suspension of SNAP benefits.

But many of Lamont’s fellow Democrats in the legislature’s majority have been pushing the governor — who alone can order spending from the response fund — to create a new state-funded nutrition benefit.

About $330 million remains in that account, which also has been used to offset cuts in non-nutrition programs. But the Lamont administration has warned Connecticut likely will need much of those remaining dollars to temper deep Medicaid cuts in the next budget cycle.

Still, the General Assembly voted last weekend, when adopting a new state budget, to transfer another $50 million from surplus into the response fund, hoping to coax a stronger response than just aid to pantries.

“As helpful as they are, as responsive as they are, as good as they are, they just can’t reach everybody,” Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said.

Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, co-chair of the Human Services Committee, introduced a bill to force Lamont’s hand, but the measure appeared unlikely to pass before the regular legislative session adjourns Wednesday at midnight.

A state-funded nutrition benefit, some advocates have estimated, could cost more than $80 million per year. But Lesser said Connecticut easily could finance that for the first year with the response fund.

“I have tried every which way to get the administration to engage on this issue in serious way,” he said, adding he would consider partial benefit replacement and expanded job training programs to limit the long-term financial cost of assisting the SNAP-displaced population.

The Connecticut Project, a nonprofit advocacy and philanthropic group, is trying to keep the issue alive this legislative session.

“Residents know that every day the governor delays is another day more people are going hungry,” said Melvin Medina, vice president of advocacy and external affairs for the project. “Our state has to respond immediately to get working class people cash, now. People who are going hungry right now see the state putting aside $50 million. The question is whether the governor is going to see them, too.”

Coralys Santana, the project’s SNAP campaign manager, said people should have the freedom and “dignity” to purchase the food that they need. Though some of the state’s food pantries provide more fresh food than others, the food distributed at pantries is often shelf-stable and is not always culturally appropriate for the way households cook.

Phoenix Lightbringer of East Hartford, who became unemployed and started receiving SNAP last year, said the benefit is fundamentally superior to food banks, “because I could control what nutrition I got, everything that would be in a normal meal.” 

Lightbringer was among those who rallied on the lawn of the Capitol with other representatives of The Connecticut Project Action Fund last week with empty paper plates reading “Governor, FUND SNAP NOW.” 

“If they aren’t willing to spend the emergency fund on an emergency like this, then maybe they should starve themselves for a couple weeks to understand what Connecticut residents are going through and help them make this decision,” Lightbringer added. “People are starving, and I’m one of the luckiest ones — you can only imagine what everyone else is going through.”