Gov. Janet Mills on Tuesday used the ongoing federal shutdown to attack the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, as she praised Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey for joining a multi-state lawsuit over contingency funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
“I applaud Attorney General Aaron Frey for joining this lawsuit. The USDA has contingency funding authorized by Congress for SNAP in cases of emergency but wrongly and callously claims it cannot spend it,” Mills said. “The USDA can and should distribute contingency funds to avoid the disastrous harm that are stopping SNAP benefits would create for Maine families, children, and seniors.”
On Oct. 10, the USDA informed states that SNAP benefits would not be distributed in November due to the federal shutdown. Two weeks later, the agency issued a memo saying it could not legally use contingency funds to cover regular benefits.
SNAP provides monthly benefits to roughly 170,000 Maine residents, with the average family of four receiving $572. Nearly 12.5 percent of the state’s population depends on the program, with participation rates nearing or exceeding 20 percent in Androscoggin, Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis, and Somerset counties.
Nearly 75 percent of Maine SNAP households include at least one working adult, more than half include a person with a disability, 43 percent include an older adult, and more than a third include children.
Mills has directed her administration to explore state-level options in response to the shutdown, but she continued to focus her criticism on the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress.
“Each day that passes during this shutdown causes more uncertainty and fear for people across the nation,” Mills said. “The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress need to listen to the people of our country and stop cutting health care, stop hurting working families, and end this needless shut down.”
The Democrats in the United States Senate have failed to advance the House-passed resolution to fund the government a total of 13 times during the government shut down. These repeated votes represent occasions when Senate Democrats voted against moving the bill forward and keeping the government shut down.
U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has joined a half dozen Republican colleagues in advancing legislation to allow USDA to use contingency funds to fund SNAP benefits before the shutdown ends. Mills is currently seeking the Democrat nomination in a bid to unseat Collins next year.
