Texas food banks are preparing for a surge in demand as federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments remain uncertain amid Senate gridlock, despite a federal judge’s order to temporarily continue funding the program during the partial government shutdown.
As a potential lapse in federal SNAP benefits looms, food banks across Texas are already expanding their operations and calling for volunteers to meet the growing need.
At the Houston Food Bank — the largest in the nation, which is partnered with Feeding America — staff have been coordinating emergency distributions for families, active-duty military personnel, and federal workers already impacted by delayed paychecks. Government Relations Officer Katherine Byers told The Dallas Express via telephone that the organization has been preparing “for a while” for the possible interruption in SNAP benefits.
“We are having several large distributions– anticipating a thousand or more cars or families,” Byers told DX. “Those are being run directly by the Houston Food Bank — and we have five that will occur in November for those individuals whose SNAP benefits will be interrupted.”
The Houston Food Bank, founded in 1982, operates a 308,000-square-foot facility east of downtown and distributes food across 18 counties. Byers said its network includes 1,600 partners and provided approximately 420 million meals last year. But even with that scale, she warned that the coming days will strain resources.
“There are 366,883 SNAP households in the ten counties we serve directly,” she said. “The average per day in those ten counties will be 28,187 individuals who will be impacted by their cards not getting loaded.”
She emphasized that the organization’s response is nonpartisan. “We are focused on making sure the community has the resources they need, which is access to nutritious food,” Byers said. “Whether you’re directly impacted by the shutdown or not, this is one of those times that Texans need to come together and really have each other’s backs.”
Catholic Charities of Dallas is also bracing for a spike in demand. The group operates more than 130 monthly drive-thru food pantries in partnership with the North Texas Food Bank and maintains fixed pantry sites in Dallas, Ennis, and Lancaster.
“Catholic Charities Dallas is proactively preparing to meet a potential increase in food insecurity by strengthening our partnerships and expanding access points,” Xiomi Aguilera, the organization’s director of marketing and communications, told DX in an email. “We are actively sharing information on our website and social media channels, encouraging anyone in need … to reach out to us for support.”
Aguilera said the nonprofit has been in contact with the North Texas Food Bank and local parishes to coordinate emergency relief efforts. “We continue to partner with all of the Catholic parishes in our diocese, with 28 parishes providing volunteers and offering their locations to support our drive-thru pantry efforts,” she said.
To meet the growing need, Catholic Charities is seeking both financial donations and volunteers. “With more hands, we can serve more families with dignity and efficiency,” Aguilera said.
Meanwhile, the political impasse in Washington continues to threaten funding for SNAP and other federal services.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) notified states that “no [SNAP] benefits will be issued November 1” absent new appropriations. This puts about 42 million Americans at risk of losing their monthly food-assistance allotments, and it forces state and local food-distribution networks to prepare for an expected abrupt surge in demand.
The Senate adjourned Thursday without a breakthrough on a spending package to avert the partial government shutdown, making it likely that the standoff will continue into next week.
The legislative branch is controlled by Republicans; however, the current composition of the Senate requires a bipartisan supermajority to end debate on a spending bill and to pass the package.
Along mostly partisan lines, Senate Democrats have held out against advancing a spending package. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) encouraged fellow Democrats to withhold unless there is some continuation of pandemic-era increases in Obamacare subsidies for health insurance, although the public has not been made aware of what exactly would satisfy the leader.
Political pressure is mounting on Democrats to reach a compromise as labor unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, a traditional Democratic ally, called for the shutdown to end on October 27.
Meanwhile, some Democrats and Independents have joined Republicans to advance the House spending package, including John Fetterman (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Angus King (I-ME).
Some analysts, such as CATO’s Dominik Lett, have called the gridlock “political theater.”
The lone Republican “No” vote, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, told NBC he wants to see the spending bill create a balanced budget. Even if he flipped his vote, five more Democrats would have to follow suit to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance the package.
Two federal courts intervened midday on October 31, ruling that the USDA must tap into other funds to at least partially continue the food funding, although it is unclear what this will mean in practice, per the Associated Press.
For organizations like the Houston Food Bank and Catholic Charities, the uncertainty has forced them to plan for the worst.
“We’ve already seen families who’ve never had to do this before,” Byers said. “So many Americans live paycheck to paycheck. That paycheck gets cut off, and you’re going to be one of these individuals in line.”