North Carolina’s Attorney General has issued a warning to the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the agency informed states that it may refuse to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the ongoing federal government shutdown.
SNAP provides food assistance to low-income families, and Attorney General Jeff Jackson said any interruption would be devastating for North Carolina, where 1.5 million people rely on it to eat.
Jackson said USDA has the money to keep SNAP running – including $6 billion in reserve funds set aside for exactly this situation. He said to refuse to use those funds would be unlawful and a stunning disregard for the well-being of roughly 600,000 children in the state.
He stated that USDA cannot withhold food from children just to play shutdown politics – and he vowed to take them to court if they try.
Meanwhile, an eastern North Carolina state lawmaker is proposing using a portion of the state’s reserve funds to provide temporary emergency SNAP assistance to eligible families during the ongoing federal government shutdown.
Republican State Representative Chris Humphrey represents Lenoir, Greene,and Jones Counties, and he said with the federal SNAP program facing delays and uncertainty, thousands of North Carolina households could see their food assistance disrupted. Humphrey’s proposal would authorize the state to provide a short-term backstop—ensuring families do not lose access to basic nutrition while Congress remains deadlocked.
North Carolina has a healthy reserve balance designed to stabilize the state during emergencies and Humphrey said only a fraction of available resources would be needed.
He said food insecurity should never be used as a bargaining chip in Washington.
And the mayor of Kinston said the city is closely monitoring the impacts of the ongoing federal government shutdown, particularly how it may affect essential nutrition programs that many people in the city rely on.
Mayor Don Hardy said according to recent reports, the United States Department of Agriculture has indicated contingency funding cannot be used to sustain full benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in November if the shutdown continues.
Hardy said he will work with partner organizations including the Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger and local nonprofit food-security providers to help fill the gap for people in Kinston and across the region.
The Mayors Alliance is a non-partisan coalition of mayors across all 50 states working in partnership with the Share Our Strength campaign No Kid Hungry. It was launched in 2022.
