EXPERTS ADVISORY

University of Michigan experts are available to discuss the impact of a potential halt in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding due to the federal government shutdown.

A directive from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has instructed states to hold off until further notice on sending the electronic files that reload monthly funds to Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, cards.

More than 41 million Americans rely on SNAP, the nation’s largest nutrition assistance program. About 1.4 million Michiganders rely on SNAP to eat, and they redeem about $300 million a month—or $3.6 billion in a year—at local retailers across the state.

Kate Bauer is an associate professor of nutritional sciences at the School of Public Health. She has researched nutritional security and related policies and led community engagement projects to understand and improve those policies. Her expertise includes Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, school meals and other aid for people struggling to afford food.

“Low-income families are constantly juggling their bills, because so many jobs don’t pay enough for people to keep up,” Bauer said. “A loss of $335 of SNAP benefits means that money from other places now has to pay for food. It means that some families may not be able to pay their rent, that their electricity gets turned off or that they can’t repair the car that they depend on to get to work. This pause will have long-term consequences for many families.

“The SNAP program is well known to provide massive economic benefits to communities. Each month, Michigan residents redeem approximately $300 million in SNAP benefits at our local food retailers. The loss of this revenue has ripple effects for everyone, SNAP-user or not. Smaller food retailers may not be able to survive this loss of revenue for very long.”

Bauer works with dozens of families who need SNAP and said they are not the stereotypes that persist.

“I’ve seen comments on social media that people should get a job so they’re not affected by the pause in SNAP benefits. The families that I know on SNAP who are not currently working full time are dealing with serious health issues, caring for a child with disabilities or are not able to afford the childcare that they would need,” she said. “Families need SNAP because other resources—good health insurance, affordable child care, living wages, etc.—aren’t available to so many in our country.”

Contact: [email protected]

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Jennifer Garner is the John G. Searle Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the School of Public Health. She conducts research on federal nutrition programs, food security and the effects of food policy on maternal and child health. She focuses on improving the design and implementation of policies and programs that leverage collaboration across the public, private and charitable sectors toward broader public health impact.

“Households with children compose the majority of SNAP beneficiaries in Michigan. When programs like SNAP get compromised, it’s the families in our state, and our state’s children, who suffer,” Garner said. “We can’t dismiss the short- and long-term impacts this will have on family vitality, childhood mental and physical health and long-term economic potential and readiness for school and work.”

Contact: [email protected]

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Pamela Herd is the Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy at the Ford School of Public Policy and a faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research’s Population Studies Center. Her research focuses on inequality and how it intersects with health, aging and policy.

“The pause in SNAP benefits on Nov. 1 will be devastating for millions of Americans,” Herd said. “Recipients need SNAP to feed their families: One in four children have enough to eat because of the program. The federal government is required to maintain SNAP benefits during a shutdown. They have the resources to provide them. But they are choosing to take food away from these families instead.”

Contact: [email protected]

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Luke Shaefer is the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy, professor of public policy and social work, and faculty director of Poverty Solutions, a universitywide initiative that aims to prevent and alleviate poverty through action-based research. He studies poverty and social welfare policy, with a focus on tax credits as a poverty reduction tool.

“If SNAP benefits are suspended, the fallout will reverberate far beyond a spike in food insecurity for families. As families use the money they have to plug gaps in their food budget, we can expect to see more families fall behind on their rent and utility bills, which in turn hits landlords and utility providers,” Shaefer said. “We can also expect that grocery stores where families use their benefits will be particularly hard hit. The extent of the damage would depend on how long the shutdown continues, but there is a lot of reason to think it will get really bad, really quick for families, grocery stores and local economies.”

Contact: [email protected]