Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on October 30 that she has arranged at least $129 million in local D.C. funds to help as many as 141,000 D.C. residents in need who rely on federal food assistance programs known as SNAP and WIC. Funding will be cut off Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown.
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children Program) provide food-related services to more than 10 million people in need nationwide.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer also announced similar plans to provide emergency state funding to replace the federal funding that will be cut off Nov. 1 for two food programs.
Like Bowser, Moore and Youngkin said the current replacement funding will only last until November. Each said they were hopeful that Congress would end the government shutdown by the end of November.
“We know that SNAP and WIC play a critical role in keeping thousands of Washingtonians and millions of Americans putting food on the table each month,” Bowser said in a statement. “While we had hoped this would not happen, we need the federal government to reopen as soon as possible, but for now we are moving forward to ensure we can take care of D.C. residents in November,” she said.
Approximately 85,000 households (141,000 individuals) in D.C. receive monthly SNAP assistance, with an average monthly allocation of $314, according to the mayor’s statement. More than 12,500 city residents in 8,300 households have benefited from the WIC program.
A spokesperson for LGBTQ issues at the D.C. Mayor’s Office could not immediately be reached to say whether the city knows the estimated number of LGBTQ residents receiving assistance from the SNAP and SIC programs.
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