‘How can food be political?’ Families in state that pioneered SNAP speak of hardship

By René Marsh, Dianne Gallagher, Michael Williams, CNN

Martinsburg, West Virginia (CNN) — Onita Norris is constantly running the numbers to try to solve a problem with no good answer: Figuring out much her two children, both under five, will have to eat, and how much she will have to go without.

The West Virginia single mother earns about $2,800 a month working 40 hours weekly for the state. About half of that goes toward rent. The rest is for daycare and her electric, water and phone bills, leaving her only about $100 from her paycheck for other expenses, including groceries.

Aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, usually adds $265 to her monthly budget for food. But with benefits disrupted as the government lurches into what is now its longest shutdown on record, Norris now must find other ways to feed her family.

“Rather than myself having, like, a full plate of food along with my kids, I’m making sure that they have a full plate of food,” Norris said. “I may have either less, or I may not eat.”

Tears come to her face as she worries she’s failing her children. “It feels like I’m failing them because I am trying, I’m trying to do all that I can, and, of course, as a human you get frustrated,” she said, “and I never want my kids to see that, or feel like I’m taking that out on them, for something as simple as dinner.”

More than 40 million Americans rely on SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, to pay for food. They are caught in the middle of a protracted budget standoff between Republicans and Democrats in Congress who have, for more than a month, been unable to come up with an agreement that would fund the government.

The difficult circumstances SNAP recipients are facing have become one of the most pressing issues for lawmakers, who are under pressure to work harder toward an agreement to get the benefits fully funded again.

In West Virginia, the state that was the first testing ground in 1961 for what is now SNAP, some 15% of its 1.7 million residents rely on the benefits today.

Food banks in the state are struggling to meet demand. They were already dealing with budget cuts caused by federal belt tightening toward the beginning of the year. Now, things are even more stretched as furloughed federal workers become new clients.

One charity in Martinsburg, CCAP/Loaves & Fishes, saw the number of households it serves roughly double from 72 households per week to 159 in the third week of October, and 119 in the fourth.

Even though it is better positioned than other pantries thanks to the generosity of the community and local churches, there are worries about how long it can continue to keep serving at such a rate.

“Until the SNAP benefits are replenished, the federal workers go back to work, we’re going to be just slammed like this all day,” its president, Leigh Fleming, told CNN.

‘It’s a struggle out here’

Following a court order, the Trump administration earlier this week said it would partially fund SNAP for November. But the funds won’t cover full benefits, and November payments for millions of Americans who rely on them have been delayed.

Trump then appeared to threaten to withhold SNAP funding on Tuesday until Democrats voted to reopen the government. The White House later clarified the administration would follow through on its plan to fund partial food aid during the shutdown.

In West Virginia, the federal government’s responses have brought confusion and dismay.

“I just don’t feel as though the folks at Washington quite understand the gravity of the situation,” said Norris. “I just don’t understand how we’ve come to a point where we’re using food in politics and being essentially political pawns.”

Laura Bowles, a West Virginia mother of five children aged four to 13 — with a sixth on the way — said she had to explain to her older kids that “there are some right now in the government who can’t figure things out, and we can’t have everything we used to have right now.”

For her family, it means having to buy less food. “My kids eat a lot,” she said. “And groceries are already so expensive these days — it was already hard,” Bowles said. Like Norris, she is cutting back her own food intake to make her kids’ meals stretch further.

Her husband’s paycheck from Walmart, where he works full time and makes $14 an hour, usually covers all their household bills.

But this month, without SNAP, it’s mostly going to groceries. That means the family has had to pick what other bills to pay.

“I let my trash and internet bill slide already,” said Bowles. Only half the electricity and car insurance could be covered, she added, and the family are even cutting back on driving to the park to save money on gas.

“It’s a struggle out here. I am pregnant again, and that wasn’t part of the plan – but it was God’s plan,” she said. “I guess people struggle everywhere, but it’s hard here in West Virginia. It just feels extra hard here.”

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