OKLAHOMA CITY — With SNAP benefits declining, and Oklahomans fearing hunger, the state is stepping in.
Monday, in a quick, emergency vote, the governor, the speaker of the House, and the Senate pro-tem voted to approve $7 million in emergency funding for hungry Oklahomans.
WATCH: EMERGENCY MONEY: State approves $7M for hungry Oklahomans
Gov. Kevin Stitt spoke to the uniqueness of the ongoing federal government shutdown.
“If it lasts for a couple more days, and it looks like it might, it would be the longest, and it’s the most significant because the others did not affect …. SNAP benefits that are so critical to so many people,” Stitt said.
The state’s plan, which sends money to food banks and non-profits across Oklahoma, comes with some caveats. It will be doled out week-by-week, $1 million at a time. Additionally, subsequent payments won’t be made until previous payments dry up. Lastly, if the federal government reopens, the plan becomes null.
Stitt said there may be more problems on the horizon if the shutdown lasts through December.
2 News asked Gov. Stitt if the state has any plans to help federal workers without pay, such as air-traffic controllers and TSA agents.
“That’s a federal issue, that’s not on our payroll. That’s nothing that we would address. We're talking about December 1st. You’re talking about military, medicaid, there’s other things that will potentially pop up. You also have childcare that’s gonna be affected that’s coming in December. Again - we don’t anticipate … we think that Washington, D.C. will fix this. Congress has to fix it,” Stitt said.
NATIONAL RANKINGS - Top 4 States by Population Percentage using SNAP benefits
- New Mexico
- Louisiana
- Oregon
- Oklahoma State
Sen. Lonnie Paxton wants to get to the root of Oklahoma's high SNAP usage.
“We’re also joined in the top-4 by Oregon who’s not a higher-poverty state. States like Mississippi, that have a lower per-capita income than we do, are way down that list. You know, we’re way up there. My question is why? I don’t know the answer to that. I noticed that when we started looking at all this that we’re running about 17% of our population is using these EBT cards. It’s about 11% on the national average,” Paxton said.
On the federal level, SNAP benefits are set to resume, at least partially, but it’s expected payments will be delayed.
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