The one in 10 Washington residents who rely on the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, are preparing for the worst. With the now 31-day-long government shutdown still in effect, SNAP benefits will lapse on Nov. 1 for the first time in the program’s history. To stave off some of the pain, Mayor Bruce Harrell proclaimed a limited civil emergency to direct $8 million in funds toward Seattle-area food banks.
Harrell’s limited emergency order will send funding directly to food banks rather than restoring individuals’ SNAP benefits. That means instead of paying for food at reduced prices at any grocery stores, SNAP users will need to line up at a food bank.
“Our city has a strong network of local food banks, and we’re prepared to fill the gap left by the other Washington’s dysfunction with immediate action and $8 million to support our neighbors in need,” Harrell said.
The City chose to fund food banks and meal programs because it’s the most barrier-free route available to get food to Seattleites, says Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck. Cities and states don’t have access to the SNAP infrastructure. The only infrastructure we have on a city-level that compares to SNAP is FreshBucks, but there are only 12,000 people in Seattle enrolled in the program, and it would take much more time to enroll new people into it than to direct them to their local food bank.
The funds come from the city’s reserves, and will be distributed $4 million per month. So, hopefully the shutdown lifts before the new year. If it doesn’t “and the need remains,” Mayoral spokesperson Jamie Housen says the mayor “can extend the order and investment.”
According to federal data, Washington state receives more than $173 million in monthly food benefits. It is unclear how much the Seattle area receives, or how much of a stop-gap Harrell’s emergency funding is.
Earlier this week, Gov. Bob Ferguson announced that he was directing the Department of Social and Health Services to direct $2.2 million a week to the state Department of Agriculture, the agency that delivers grants to food banks. That money will funnel toward food banks rather than individuals as well. Even before the government shutdown pushed SNAP off a cliff, Trump cuts and cancelled food shipments had put Washington food banks in a bad way, according to the Washington State Standard.
With the sweeping loss of federal funds, “we’re at COVID-levels of crisis management,” says Rinck. “So we need to move toward these kinds of emergency proclamations.”
Directing this funding into food banks and meal programs will put stress on their existing infrastructure. But by declaring an emergency, the mayor’s office is also able to redirect City staff and vehicles to provide operational support and make sure food is distributed to people who need it. It’s not yet clear if that’s part of Harrell’s plan.
“We have to have a proactive approach to getting that food out there,” Rinck says.
For food banks, this emergency funding is stabilizing. Northwest Harvest, a hunger relief non-profit, operates two free markets—one in Yakima, one in Seattle. It also distributes food to a network of more than 375 food banks and meal programs.
“We are deeply embedded in Washington’s hunger relief infrastructure,” Natasha Dworkin, director of communications at Northwest Harvest wrote in an email. “Emergency funding like this will help… keep shelves stocked and meet growing demand with dignity and care.”
Dworkin said Northwest Harvest was already seeing increased demand this year ahead of the SNAP benefits pause. Plus, new changes to work requirements and exemptions for SNAP that came from the Trump administration earlier this year reduced food access for many. Medicaid cuts add further strain on those in need.
“The government shutdown has created widespread uncertainty, and families who rely on federal assistance are turning to food banks and community markets in growing numbers,” Dworkin said. “We expect this increased demand to continue—and likely intensify—even after the shutdown ends.”
City Council will hold an emergency vote on Monday to ratify the order. Council President Sara Nelson, and Councilmembers Joy Hollingsworth, Dan Strauss, and Rinck have already made statements in support of the funding. It’s expected to pass.
Update:
Update: As of Friday afternoon, two federal judges in different states issued rulings opposing the Trump administration’s handing of SNAP benefits. A Rhode Island judge blocked the administration from ceasing to pay for SNAP while a judge in Boston, Massachusetts ruled the suspension of benefits was “unlawful.”
When asked how this would impact Harrell’s order, mayoral spokesperson Kevin Mundt wrote in an email:
“We are currently reviewing the implications of these rulings and monitoring any potential gaps in SNAP payments. It is unclear at this time whether SNAP funding will cover all or only part of regular allocations in November. We have little trust that President Trump will do the right thing and fully fund SNAP for our must vulnerable. There is also the probability of an emergency appeal of the ruling by the Trump administration.
With this uncertainty and because of a possibility for a reduction in funding, at this time the City will continue moving forward quickly to support our food banks and meal program partners to meet emerging needs should a gap in benefits occur.”
“If only he had waited till after Tuesday to do this.”
Katie Wilson campaign staffer
@1 I’m sure this was Wilson’s idea first and Harrell has corrupted it with his black soul that was bought on Amazon prime.
if Only
EVERY Week
were Election Week
the GOP’d
be HIS-
story.
@3 around here the GOP has been history for decades (unfortunately too many folks in rural America still buy their bullshit)
tiny islands
in an Ocean filled
with corporate dick-
sucking Magats n’ ‘centrists,’
dragging humanity into the ditch
I spose it’ll Forever Be
whomever’s the Cunningest
& can most effectively seize power
will be the ones enough fools will follow
lead by sociopaths and psychopaths
toward a made-up ‘Afterlife’ where
everyone gets what only those
very few’ll Never share
You know, democrats have some learning to do from the rurals. They don’t just want free and subsidized shit from the government and other taxpayer largess. They want dignity and a decent job and the ability to participate in and contribute to a capitalist society. That same one democrats keep attacking.
So let’s not pretend like Democrats have it all figured out either, and it’s just the Republican voters keeping us from some kind of utopia.
It’s interesting, Buddhamat dear: The Republican refrain is to always blame the Democratic “One Party Rule”, but they never talk about the reason for that, which is is 1)Their social policies are stupid, and 2)Their candidates are ridiculous. Semi Bird? Joe Kent? Loren Culp? Tiffany Smiley? Give me a break.
I’m old enough to remember when we had good Republican politicians. Dan Evans being the gold standard, but there were others. The GOP knew they couldn’t (and shouldn’t) touch the Senators (Jackson and Magnuson were the Cantwells and Murrays of their day, and like those two, they brought home the bacon.) But they served in many roles, including Mayors of Seattle.
If you look east of the Cascades, you’ll see it’s actually a shade of purple that could easily turn more blue if the WA State Democratic Party would throw some candidates in Eastern WA a little support. Now’s the perfect time, as the WA GOP continues to flail in a morass of bible-addled nonsense, retrorade economic policies, and the burden of trump, which is like being yoked to a dying whale.
speaking of jokes
yokes & Whales
https://youtu.be/V6CLumsir34
@7 the only problem with this statement is in 5 years we could be saying the same things about todays Dems. Looking at Seattle politics and the progressive, socialists runnings under the Dem banner their policies and positions are equally bereft of sanity. We say we have one party in WA but the truth is there are two, actual Dems and socialists who run as a Dem because it’s the only way to get elected. Already you see as @5 demonstrated that being a Dem is akin to being MAGA around here so how much longer until the all we are left with are two sides of the same crazy coin?
@9: Catalina would love to answer that truthfully as she whole heartedly agrees with you as sure as her wig is blonde. But she’s worried about losing her standing on Slog as our most famous Republican basher if she were to acknowledge her true feeling in public.
Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have voted 13 times to keep the government closed. Now children go hungry. Terrible
@6: 6
“[Rurals] don’t just want free and subsidized shit from the government and other taxpayer largess.”
::Laughs in Farm Subsidies and Crying Soy Bean Farmers::
@7: What you see as bible-addled nonsense, they view as the salvation of their existence. Why do you continue to harp on your stereotype when you can make progress by having conversations with your east-of-the-Cascades friends and neighbors in person?
Your quest for purple and blue begins with your willingness to listen instead of constantly disparaging them. You know the phrase, “politics is a game of addition, not subtraction.”
@12: You find it funny that Trump pulled out the rug from Soybean farmers feeding the world via USAID. Is that your take?
@9
“Looking at
Seattle politics and
the progressive, socialists
runnings under the Dem banner their
policies and positions are equally bereft of sanity.
Already you see as [kristo!, above] demonstrated
that being a Dem is akin to being MAGA
around here so how much longer until
the [sic] all we are left with are two
sides of the same crazy coin?”
bingo, d13r:
right wing
rage brought us
the Klu Klux Klan
Left Wing Rage
brought us the
Fucking Week-
end. oh, the
Humanity
@14
no; it’s
called
Irony.
you’re
thinking of
thumfpnsornas
who view
ALL Tragedy
as Fun; Humorous.
[insert Hysterical
Emoticons Ev-
erywhere]
@15 lol the people who brought us the weekend would be criticized as corporate sell outs today by the likes of you and your comrades. Wilson, Mamdani, Shaun Scott et al have nothing in common with them and even suggesting they are in the same category is a real Dan Quayle moment. Congrats.
@16
our Corporate ‘Centrist’*
LECTURES Me about
fucking SELLOUTS?
rich,
as Fuck
d13refugee
but,
then Again,
FDR was Con-
sidered a Traitor
to his (rich!) Class.
*my
Apolgies
if you’re Ac-
tually a RWNJ.
District dear, parties do change over time. That’s the nature of them. Look at Nixon’s southern strategy, which turned the solidly blue South ruby red by appealing to white racism. Or how Reagan swept the GOP into power by putting a kindly face on greed and pretending to care about the middle class (or at least the white people in the middle class) and be opposed to abortion and civil rights. Or how trump turned the GOP into a fascist party by evoking a time that never existed, but appealed to people who confuse nostalgia with history and think things like “Gone With The Wind” are documentaries. No one ever went broke underestimating the number of horrible people in these United States. That’s why they have their own political party.
But unless the WA State GOP stops running backbenchers and never-weres, I don’t see a resurgence. Even Clark County, which is largely rural, and in the “deliverance” part of the state, was able to reject Joe Kent – the most photogenic and (on paper) qualifed (GOP) candidate. Twice. You can blame that on Vancouver, but Vancouver is not exactly a woke bastion either.
You wring your hands over the more extreme candidates, but you fail to realize they either don’t get elected after a big flashy campaign, or they don’t stick around. Sawant knew she could never win a citywide election, so she got out, and her replacement is a traditional Democrat. Morales got re-elected, but then took her bag of candy and dropped out, and neither of her potential replacements seem like “leftist loons”. But the Murray’s and the Cantwell’s last for generations because – again – they bring home the bacon to the state.
Seattlelove dear, you big storyteller you. Just like Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz”, the Republicans could end this shutdown at anytime by suspending the fillibuster for the vote, and bringing in VP Prissy McGuyliner to cast his vote. But Speaker Jesus Johnson doesn’t want to swear in a the new Democratic rep, because that would mean a vote to open up the Epstein Child Rape Facility files, and expose the powerful men who visited it.
Finally, Coolidge dear, I strive not to be a horrible person, so why would I want to align with a party comprised entirely of horrible people? I am a rock-ribbed, strident Democrat, who is basically a 1930s New Deal Democrat, with a hint of 1970s Rockefeller Republican thrown in there just to spice things up. And when I talk about “bible-addled nonsense,” I refer to a specific kind of commercialized Christianity that is a cancer on the faith. A cancer that too many legitimate Christians don’t want to address because “what will people think?”
@18 the WA state GOP is irrelevant at this point and won’t have a factor in any election for the foreseeable future especially because we have a top 2 primary. That means for most offices you’re good to have a democrat vs someone further to the left from progressive to outright socialist.
I’m not sure why you don’t think what happened to the R’s cant happen to the D’s. I’ve lived here a long time and I’ve watched this state drift further and further to the left with no sign of slowing down. We’ll soon have a socialist mayor to go along with a Marxist rep in D33. I respect your opinion but don’t share your optimism that the damage their policies will inflict won’t have consequence that far outlast them even if they do serve one term.
District dear, you’re distraught. If Katie Wilson gets elected, we’ll have a Socialist mayor. Unclench your pearls. I hope for her sake that if she does win, she has some competent people around her, for I’m not confident she’s up for the job. There’s a lot more to being Mayor of Seattle than sloganeering and promoting one’s platform, especially now in the era of districts. I fear she’ll be just another four-year experiment.
And I don’t know what you’re talking about with a “Marxist rep in D33” but if it’s the D33 I’m thinking of, good luck with that one.
@20 my apologies. There was a typo there. I meant D43 and of course I’m referring to Shaun Scott. I admire your optimism but considering Wilson is running as antiestablishment I doubt she’ll bring along any one experienced in Seattle politics to a meaningful role in her administration. Hope for the best but expect the worst.
District 43. The land of downtown, North Capitol Hill, Boadmoor, Leschi, Madrona, Wallingford, Fremont, First Hill, Madison Park, and Laurelhurst.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the specter of Communism getting a foothold there, dear.
@20: Well, thank you for acknowledging that you voted for Bruce Harrell.
@20 She MIGHT not be good at the job. Bruce DEFINITELY ISN’T good at the job. So… what do we do?
@24: Please elaborate on “DEFINITELY ISN’T”.
I think that if one is being honest, Harrell is an improvement over Durkan (not that that’s saying much). Downtown has made a decent recovery. Most of the parks have recovered.
But the last mayor I liked was McGinn. Before that it was Royer.