DENVER — The Trump administration is supposed to start rolling out partial SNAP benefits Wednesday. This is a significant development for the roughly 600,000 Coloradans that rely on this assistance to buy food.
The money normally allocated for SNAP is frozen right now during the federal government shutdown as Congress fails to reach a deal on the national budget.
Families stretching every dollar at grocery stores and relying on food banks won't see an end to that struggle immediately because it could still take some time before these partial SNAP benefits reach them.
The Colorado Department of Human Services received federal guidance to issue the partial assistance and is making technical system updates with its EBT processor to distribute funds as quickly as possible.
Denver7 spoke with Jefferson County nonprofit The Action Center. The group said families are stressed, confused, and facing a ripple effect that could last for months.
"It's going to be half the amount that they normally get. We'll see that ripple effect with need for families into December, into January, and long term, where they've had to make really, really hard decisions, and how it's going to affect their financial well being in months to come,” Sunny Garcia with the Action Center said.
What Garcia is talking about is roughly $4.6 billion being released in emergency funds, which is only half of what's usually given out. That in itself could cause confusion.
“The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has not designated specific dollars per state," the Colorado Department of Human Services said. "The compliance ruling cites that the contingency fund will be obligated to “cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments.”
States will now recalculate benefits based on new maximum allotments, but families shouldn’t expect to receive half of their usual SNAP benefits for November.
