Congress may rescue SNAP funds
CODY — After the Wyoming Department of Family Services announced last week that payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would halt until the federal government was funded, the Wyoming Department of Health announced that it will continue disbursing benefits in November to Wyoming Women, Infants and Children program participants.
WIC is a federally funded program that provides low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants and children aged five and under with food, nutrition education and health-care referrals. In Wyoming, it is managed by the Health Department.
Meanwhile, on the federal level, legislators are working to reappropriate funding to continue issuing payments to SNAP recipients.
In a reversal from past policy, the Agriculture Department has declined to use monies allocated to a shortfall contingency fund. If no SNAP payments are issued in November, there may be severe economic consequences at a state-level: every $1 SNAP distributes generates $1.50 in economic activity.
WIC will continue
Wyoming WIC will continue providing services over the next month and will notify program participants about its ability to provide benefits if the shutdown continues beyond that point, according to a statement posted to Facebook.
Program participants are advised to keep their appointments and continue to use their benefits.
No SNAP for November
Last week, DFS announced it would halt payments to beneficiaries of the SNAP as a consequence of the federal shutdown.
“We understand the uncertainty about November’s SNAP funds may create a hardship for families and elderly who rely on this resource, and we want to give them time to prepare,” DFS director Korin Schmidt said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our clients to process applications and renewals so that benefits can be issued as soon as Congress reinstates funding.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Mark Gordon said his office is “exploring options” ahead of the program’s suspension and his first priority is to ensure Wyoming families do not go hungry.
“We in Wyoming know how important it is to solve problems, which is why I know food pantries, churches and other organizations across the Cowboy State are ready to step up and help,” Gordon said in a statement.
“We are working on ways to provide assistance,” he added. “In the meantime, I have no doubt that Wyoming citizens will help by donating to their local food pantry, church pantry and charitable organization.”
During the state fiscal year 2025, which ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025 (FY2025), 44% of SNAP recipients were children aged 17 and under; 36% were adults aged 18 to 59; and 13% of recipients were adults aged 60 and older.
In Wyoming, DFS manages the program and reported 28,364 people accessed SNAP each month in FY2025 – about 4.9% of the state’s total population.
In Park County, 505 households accessed SNAP in FY2024, DFS said. The Cody Cupboard, a local food pantry, reported an uptick in community members using its services, noting it had already exceeded the total number of households it assisted last year by September 2025.
New applications for SNAP are still being accepted, but DFS noted, “(applicants) should do so with the understanding that benefits are not currently available.”
‘The well has run dry’
On Friday, the Trump Administration ruled out reappropriating funds in the federal budget to continue providing SNAP benefits.
Previously, the USDA had indicated it would be able to at least partially fund the program, which issues benefits to over 40 million households nationwide with an average monthly benefit of $187.
But in a text banner recently added to the agency’s public website, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, “Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01.”
However, Congress had previously allocated a contingency fund, estimated to be between $4 and $6 billion, to cover partial SNAP payments in the event of a shortfall. During the 2018 shutdown, the longest in history to-date, partial payments were issued to program beneficiaries through that same fund.
It remains unclear what prompted the reversal, but the USDA, in an agency brief, claims the funds are “not legally available” and to be reserved in the event of a natural disaster.
Unsnapping federal funds
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, said she would co-sponsor a bill to appropriate the necessary funding to provide uninterrupted SNAP benefits retroactive to the start date of the federal shutdown and throughout its duration.
“I will, of course, support legislation to ensure no child in Wyoming goes to bed hungry during the shutdown,” Lummis said in a statement.
The bill, titled “Keep SNAP Funded Act,” was introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Monday.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon, a rival bill was introduced to the Senate floor by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., that would guarantee funding for both SNAP and WIC for the duration of the shutdown.
This story was published on Oct. 29, 2025.