When federal money suddenly disappears, how much responsibility does the state have to use its own limited resources to minimize the impact?   

The rapidly approaching cutoff of food aid to tens of millions of Americans is posing that question to Beacon Hill, boxing legislative leaders and Gov. Maura Healey into a corner over whether and how to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program now – and foreshadowing challenging budget math that looms on the longer-term horizon.  

Anti-hunger advocates and budget analysts stressed that the imminent crisis is a federal creation that could be avoided at the Trump administration’s will or by a Congressional deal to reopen the government.  

But even if the long-term responsibility is on Washington, top Massachusetts Democrats who control state government have been forced into a politically difficult decision: deploy tens or hundreds of millions of state dollars to temporarily replace a massive program, or allow more than 1 million residents to go without food aid until the federal government changes course.  

It’s not the only time policymakers here will need to grapple with paying for SNAP, either. The debate foreshadows higher costs that Massachusetts will likely need to absorb starting in two years under a change already enshrined in federal law.  
  
“The onus here is on the federal government to do their job, and they have abdicated their responsibility in doing that. But in Massachusetts, we can make a different choice,” said Victoria Negus, a senior economic justice advocate at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. “There’s a variety of options for what we could do here.”  

Days away from the deadline, Healey indicated on Thursday that she has no plans to tap the state’s record $8.6 billion long-term savings account, known as the “rainy day fund.” Instead, she launched a new website to connect needy residents to resources and announced plans to double state funding for food banks in November to $8 million – a small amount when compared to the more than $210 million the federal government allocates to Massachusetts each month to SNAP recipients.  

Late Thursday, a federal judge indicated she might soon grant a temporary restraining order to reverse the Department of Agriculture’s decision to stop funding the SNAP program during the shutdown, according to Politico.  

But it’s not clear how much money would flow into the program or when those funds would appear even if the judge orders the Trump administration to use emergency federal funds. And, other Massachusetts power players have not made clear the exact limits of what they’re comfortable pursuing as the pressure grows more intense.

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Published by MassINC