With the longest government shutdown in U.S. history now over, officials are working to fully reopen the government and all that makes it flow. Part of getting it back up and running includes delivering Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to individuals who missed all or part of their regular monthly payments.
Mississippi was one of many states on Thursday, less than a day after Congress voted on and President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund the government, to announce it’s working quickly to deliver food assistance to beneficiaries. The Mississippi Department of Human Services, which announced a temporary pause on SNAP benefits last month before saying Monday that up to 65% of benefits would be delivered, stated it “will issue full November SNAP benefits as soon as possible.”
“Following official guidance from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, the Mississippi Department of Human Services will issue full SNAP benefits as soon as possible,” a release reads.
“MDHS will begin issuance as soon as possible to clients with issuance dates of November 4th through 13th. This follows the announcement of partial benefit issuance on Monday,” the release continued. “Clients with issuance dates between November 14th and 21st will receive full benefits on their regularly scheduled issuance dates.”
The state agency, which issued the update based on guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, added that December benefits are still expected to be issued on time.
SNAP took a hard hit during the shutdown, garnering headlines of food banks across Mississippi and other states hustling to keep shelves stocked and low-income families fed. The program serves around 42 million people nationally – about 1 in 8 Americans – including roughly 385,000 Mississippians, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
