Roughly 650,000 Missourians will not receive SNAP benefits for the month of November due to the ongoing government shutdown.
The Missouri Department of Social Services announced Monday that November SNAP benefits would not be distributed. This is because the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is entirely funded by the federal government.
While October benefits were able to be distributed, the same isn't true for November.
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, said losing this resource in November is going to be devastating for Missouri families.
"I'm terrified of what the fallout looks like, because there are states across this country who can manage some of these budget shortfalls from the federal government in the short term. And the way I see it, I don't believe that Missouri is in a place to do that in a lot of ways. And I think that Missourians are going to suffer for it," Aune said.
Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O'Laughlin, R-Shelbina, agreed that Missouri "cannot take on this budgeted expense."
"I think SNAP benefits for many families are critical to the health of the family," O'Laughlin said in a text.
However, Aune and O'Laughlin disagree on what the federal government needs to do to reopen, which entered its third week of a shutdown.
"In this instance the CR, [continuing resolution] is a continuation of current spending so for Democrats to obstruct the CR makes no sense," O'Laughlin said. "It is politics not policy."
Meanwhile, Aune said Democrats "have made it clear that they are fighting for health care for everyday Americans." Democrats want Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies extended before they will approve the overall spending plan.
"What I would like to see is Republicans in [Washington] D.C. actually taking their job seriously and coming to the table to negotiate instead of shutting out people just because they have a different letter next to their name," Aune said.
In a statement, Missouri's health services department said it will continue to "accept and process SNAP applications, reported changes, and mid-certifications received on or after November 1, 2025 as normal."
Once the shutdown is over the department will work quickly to restore SNAP benefits, the statement said.
In the meantime, DSS said it understands the difficulty this creates for Missouri families and encourages recipients to look into local food resources like food pantries and to try to stretch their October SNAP allotment into November if possible.
Aune said the recommendation to stretch SNAP benefits into next month is insulting.
"If you're looking at how expensive it is to live right now, between tariffs and all of the costs of living rising around us, it's an absurd proposition," Aune said.
The Missouri Budget Project said in the 2024 Fiscal Year SNAP served an average of 655,000 Missourians in over 323,000 households each month.
The overview also said that the average monthly SNAP benefit was $397 per household during the last fiscal year.
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