Rebecca Ross is in a tough spot.
The 71-year-old West Hartford retiree lives on a fixed income. Her 38-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, lives with multiple disabilities and relies on SNAP benefits to feed herself.
But those payments have been in limbo amid the federal government shutdown. Regularly scheduled disbursements did not go out on Nov. 1, leaving millions of Americans – more than 360,000 people in Connecticut – without a source of income they rely on to eat.
The Trump administration first said they would release billions in contingency funding for the program if ordered by a court. After federal judges ruled those funds must be used, the White House backtracked – President Trump said Tuesday he would only release the funds after the shutdown ends. (A White House spokesperson later said the administration would comply with court orders.)
In the meantime, Ross says she may need to tap into retirement savings to help feed her daughter. She’s also seeking information on food banks in West Hartford for the first time.
“It’s a strain on me because I’m retired, living on a fixed income,” she said. “I’m just trying to be smarter about my money.”
Ross feels as though people in need, like her daughter, are being used as political pawns by the Trump administration.
“I wish that they understood that there are people who, through no fault of their own, need help,” Ross said. “Just to knock everybody off at once seems cruel.”
“I’m disgusted,” she added. “It’s just political game-playing. I’m just stymied by the whole thing.”
‘Weaponizing hunger’
Ross is not alone in worrying about when SNAP payments will resume, and how much will be paid out.
Angela Roman of New Haven is a mother of two.
“With SNAP benefits, I’m able to make sure that my kids have a home meal,” Roman said. “I think this is just a sad situation, because they're not thinking of us as a whole. They're not thinking of the children. They're not thinking how, long-term, this is going to affect a lot of people in our community.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, along with Democratic attorneys general and governors of dozens of other states, brought one of two lawsuits against the Trump administration demanding SNAP be funded. He wants Connecticut families to know his team is “fighting as hard as we possibly can.”
“We're talking about a president of the United States weaponizing hunger against children in Connecticut and families in Connecticut and across the country,” Tong said. “He’s weaponizing hunger and taking food out of the mouths of kids – milk, bread, eggs, meat and produce. It is never okay to willfully and intentionally force people to go hungry, and it is beyond wrong. It is, frankly, an abomination.”
“He is making people go hungry so that he can force a resolution to this shutdown,” Tong said.
Tong said he ultimately believes the administration will release funding for at least half of the expected benefits payments, which they said in court they would do. But that was before the president’s threat Tuesday to defy court orders.
“If he continues not to comply, that is a constitutional crisis,” Tong said, adding that he would take the case as far as the United States Supreme Court.
‘Fear in the eyes’ of those in need
One state lawmaker has launched an experiment to draw attention to the hardships faced by SNAP recipients during the continued withholding of their benefits.
State Sen. Saud Anwar, a Democrat, has spent more than a week living on $6.20 a day, the average amount received by SNAP beneficiaries.
“I'm doing it out of my choice,” Anwar said. “There's 360,000 people who do not have a choice in my state.”
Anwar said he had visited food pantries in his district and seen the human toll the SNAP pause is taking on constituents.
“This is not the first time I’ve visited some of these places, but this was the first time I saw fear in the eyes of the people who were waiting in line,” Anwar said. “Because I saw mothers who were worried about their children getting their next meal. And that’s a very difficult position for any parent to have to be worried about.”
Anwar, a medical doctor, said meeting nutritional goals was extremely hard under the constraints of $6.20 a day. If payments resume at half that rate, Anwar said, it could be catastrophic.
“It's unhealthy for individuals to be chronically undernourished,” Anwar said. “They are at a high risk for getting infections. They are high risk of having more medical problems that way. And they're not even getting a balanced diet with how things are.”
Anwar said he would not attempt his challenge on $3.10 a day.
“I will be unhealthy or hypoglycemic. I may make wrong choices and I'm scared of that. I have a fear that I may make a decision that may, God forbid, harm somebody's wellbeing, and that's why I wouldn't do that,” he said. “I would not be able to function as a physician.”
Learn more
Find places to access food assistance, or donate to those who can help, here.
