On Thursday, Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee approved two emergency requests from the governor’s office “to ensure Coloradans continue to have access to food” during the federal government shutdown.
The first allocates $10 million to food banks ahead of the federal government’s temporary halt of SNAP food assistance on Nov. 1. The second extends emergency funding for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, a federal nutrition initiative for mothers and children younger than 5. WIC ran out of federal funding on Sept. 30, and the state has been supporting it with emergency funds since then.
Funding for federal food assistance has not been appropriated by Congress because of the shutdown. But some states argue the Trump administration could use other available funds — including $5 billion in contingency reserves — to continue SNAP payments, just as it has done to fund paychecks for the military and ICE agents. On Oct. 28, Colorado joined more than 20 other states in suing the Trump administration over the decision not to fund SNAP.
In the meantime, food banks and pantries have been seeing rising demand for months and expect conditions to worsen in November as families lose access to food assistance. In Boulder County, about 19,000 residents are currently eligible for SNAP, which provides an average of $332 per person per month for food, or $574 for a household with children. Depending on when the shutdown ends, families may go the entire month without that assistance.
“With the JBC’s approval, we are getting $10 million out the door, as the federal shutdown continues, to help food banks meet record demand and continuing to fund WIC so that no parent or child goes hungry in Colorado because Congress can’t get its act together,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement, reminding parents that kids can also receive two free meals a day at school.
Under the governor’s plan, the emergency funding will be distributed through the Community Food Assistance Grant Program, established during the Covid pandemic to support food banks. Funds will be released in three installments: Nov. 1, Nov. 15 and Dec. 1.
State Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat and member of the Joint Budget Committee, called the decision to approve the $10 million request a “no-brainer.”
“We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities who have lost their lifeline to afford groceries this month because of chaos in Washington,” she said. “Regardless of your circumstance, everyone should have the basic right to feed themselves and their families.”
So where and how is that money going to be distributed?