Sherrill: Fixing food insecurity crisis in New Jersey is a top priority
Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill distributed food at a Newark food pantry Friday morning to highlight the growing number of people facing food insecurity in New Jersey and called on President Donald Trump to fully fund the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Later in the day, the federal government announced that the SNAP program would be fully funded this month.
“I’m here today because we now have a president who is trying to stop SNAP funding, and when ordered to do so by a court, is kind of slow-walking the whole thing,” Sherrill said during her visit to the Essex County West Side Park Community Center.
Sherrill said tackling the state’s food insecurity crisis will be one of her top priorities as governor.
“I will continue to do that as governor to make sure we are building programs across the state so everyone has access to opportunity, good schools, good jobs — and certainly, at a very basic level, access to food security,” she said.
Some visitors to the community center chatted with Sherrill as she passed out eggs, offered their congratulations on her win, and sometimes hugged her. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was also on hand to welcome her.
The Trump administration had attempted to block a federal judge’s order requiring the government to distribute this month’s SNAP benefits in full. The order, issued by Chief U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of Rhode Island, gave the administration until Friday to release the payments.
Instead, the administration asked a federal appeals court to suspend any order requiring it to spend more money than was available in a contingency fund. The SNAP program serves about 40 million Americans, including roughly 3 million in New York and more than 800,000 in New Jersey.
Sherrill visited the Newark pantry as the nonprofit — like hundreds of other groups that feed the hungry across the state — struggles with an influx of people seeking help during the ongoing government shutdown. Demand for food had already grown before the SNAP funding was halted, driven by inflation and the soaring cost of groceries.
She said her administration is prepared to provide additional state resources to meet people’s needs but emphasized that restoring federal SNAP funding must come first.
“They have $6 billion they’re not spending, even though the court ordered them to do so,” Sherrill said. “At a minimum, the federal government has to do what it’s now legally required to do — support the SNAP funding — and then we can push other resources.”
On Friday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would release full November funding for SNAP by the end of the day, complying with the Rhode Island court order issued a day earlier.
Friday’s decision marked a reversal for the Trump administration, which had appealed McConnell’s order, arguing that the government shutdown — and the resulting lack of funding — was Congress’ fault. The administration contended it could not be compelled to transfer funds from other USDA accounts to pay for SNAP benefits.
The shutdown, which began when Congress failed to pass annual spending bills by Oct. 1, left SNAP without appropriated funding for November and beyond. Despite having enough money in contingency accounts to cover some benefits, the administration had previously refused to release the funds.
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Krystal Knapp is the founder of The Jersey Vindicator and the hyperlocal news website Planet Princeton. Previously she was a reporter at The Trenton Times for a decade.