On Wednesday, Gov. Kelly Ayotte praised state officials for distributing November's full federal food assistance benefits to the more than 76,000 residents who rely on them over the weekend, following a federal court order late last week.
“I talked to other governors and other states that weren't able to get any benefits on the card, so I was glad that we were able to work as a team to make sure we were able to get that out the door,” she said.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, which helps feed about one in eight Americans, is federally funded but administered by the states. For the first time in its history, benefits were paused on Nov. 1st, due to the government shutdown.
Since then, the program has been mired with uncertainty as lawsuits against the Trump administration for withholding SNAP have bounced around the federal judiciary. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump Administration to further delay paying out benefits in full until Thursday night, as Congress votes on a plan to reopen the government.
But, by the time that directive came in, New Hampshire residents already had their SNAP dollars.
“New Hampshire already acted,” said Gov. Ayotte when asked why the state did not comply with a Trump administration demand to return some of those federal funds.
“My job as governor is to serve the people of New Hampshire,” she said. “That's what I did.”
In October, among growing national concern about the status of November SNAP benefits amid the shutdown, Ayotte spoke critically in a press release of “politicians in Washington” for prolonging the shutdown and impacting nutrition assistance programs she described as “critical.”
“I don't want anyone to come in between what the people of New Hampshire need and the people who are vulnerable,” Ayotte said Wednesday.
In October, the state put $2 million towards a stopgap plan to provide additional assistance through the charitable food system while benefits were paused. That program will end Friday, Nov. 14, according to the state health department.
Department officials did not return requests from NHPR to provide further information on how much of the allotted amount has been spent.
