Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced Tuesday that $2 million in state emergency funds will be made available to food banks serving all 67 Alabama counties.
The announcement comes as the federal government shutdown reached its 35th day, tying the record for the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
Ivey explained that the emergency funds are intended to help support Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients who face uncertain access to their monthly benefits due to the shutdown.
In Alabama, SNAP benefits, which are 100 percent federally funded, are issued to Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, cards between the 4th and the 23rd of every month, based on the recipient’s case number. The program is utilized by over 750,000 Alabamians.
“There are real Alabama families who rely on SNAP to put food on their tables, and that includes more than 300,000 children, more than 102,000 seniors and those who are disabled. That is why I am directing $2 million in emergency funding to go towards food banks serving the people of our state,” Ivey said in a written statement.
Additionally, Ivey’s office wrote that the Alabama Department of Human Resources, which is responsible for administering SNAP in the state, will be redirecting $3 million to the Feeding Alabama food bank network.
DHR will also provide parents and guardians whose children receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, benefits with payments of $300 per child. The governor’s office wrote that, in Alabama, more than 11,000 children are enrolled in TANF.
“We are now in the longest federal government shutdown in history, and it is absolutely ridiculous that families all across our country are suffering – whether that is the school children who rely on SNAP, the air traffic controller not receiving a paycheck or even our military and high number of federal government worker families in Alabama,” the governor said.
Ivey’s office highlighted the Monday announcement from the Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, that SNAP benefits will be partially released in November.
The announcement follows two federal judges ruling last week that the Trump administration must provide benefits for November by accessing a more than $5 billion USDA contingency fund, which White House and USDA officials had previously said was legally unavailable.
The administration announced Monday that $4.65 billion of the fund will be made available to pay SNAP benefits; however, SNAP recipients will only receive half their typical monthly benefit allotments in November.
Trump subsequently threatened to deny SNAP benefits until the end of the shutdown in a Tuesday Truth Social post.
The president criticized the expansion of SNAP under the Biden administration, writing that benefits “were haphazardly ‘handed’ to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need,” and wrote that the program’s benefits, “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said later in the day that the administration is “fully complying” with the court order and will provide partial benefits through November.
The governor’s office wrote that Alabama DHR is “closely reviewing” SNAP guidance sent to states by the USDA.
“As Secretary Rollins notes, this will be a cumbersome process for states and will result in delayed benefits. At this point in Alabama, that exact timeframe is unknown,” Ivey officials wrote.
The governor went on to condemn U.S. Senate Democrats, urging them to vote to reopen the federal government, and stressed that the funds released by her office are a short-term solution to the SNAP crisis.
“Hear me loud and clear when I say Alabama cannot be both the state and federal government. And like states all across the country, Alabama is stepping up to help, but this is not sustainable by any means. U.S. Senate Democrats must vote to reopen the federal government now,” Ivey added. “There is only one true solution and that is for Congress to do their one job and reopen the federal government now.”
“It is absolutely ridiculous families nationwide are suffering,” Ivey wrote in a Tuesday post on X. “U.S. Senate Democrats must vote to reopen the federal government NOW.”
While Ivey and Alabama’s federal Republicans have placed the blame for the SNAP crisis on Senate Democrats, Alabama’s House Democrats have criticized the president’s Tuesday statement, which called for benefits to be withheld for November, and drawn attention to SNAP reforms championed by the administration earlier in the year.
U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, D-Ala., condemned the Trump administration for denying access to the USDA emergency fund last week, and criticized the president’s Tuesday comments calling for SNAP benefits to be withheld.
“This president has lost his mind!” Sewell wrote in response to Trump’s Truth Social. “The fact that he would defy court orders in order to starve hungry families is sickening. Mr. President, follow the law, do your job, and release the SNAP funds!!!”
U.S. Representative Shomari Figures, D-Ala., also criticized the administration’s handling of SNAP over social media last week, drawing attention to the administration’s then refusal to utilize contingency funds.
Additionally, Figures has decried the potential impacts of the Big Beautiful Bill Act on SNAP. The bill is projected to cut the program’s funding by $186 billion by 2034 and will require states to begin paying 75 percent of SNAP administrative costs by 2027.
Food banks set to receive the emergency funds are the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, Food Bank of East Alabama, Food Bank of North Alabama, Feeding the Gulf Coast, Heart of Alabama Food Bank, Selma Area Food Bank, West Alabama Food Bank and the Wiregrass Area Food Bank.
Although some members of Congress have inquired about a legislative special session to supplement benefits by tapping into Rainy Day funds, Ivey’s office said the governor has no plans to call a special session. The governor’s office explained that the state cannot currently use Rainy Day funds, which Alabama law reserves for when the state is in proration, or in the process of cutting budgeted expenditures due to an unexpected revenue shortfall.
Ivey’s announcement was met with support from Feeding Alabama, which operates or is affiliated with all food banks set to receive emergency funds.
“Feeding Alabama is deeply grateful for Governor Kay Ivey’s leadership and swift action in recognizing the magnitude of the challenge before us,” Feeding Alabama wrote.
“At a time when many Alabama families are facing heightened food insecurity, this investment will provide critical relief to food banks across the state, enabling them to increase food purchases, enhance distributions, expand operations, and ensure more Alabamians do not go hungry,” the organization continued.
