Kansas food assistance recipients set to receive partial payment — but no one knows when

The Kansas Department for Children and Families said in a statement Monday that it had not yet received information from the federal government regarding the partial payment of food program benefits. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

TOPEKA — It’s unclear how a federal judge’s order forcing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release food program funds by Wednesday will affect Kansas recipients, state leaders said.

U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. told the USDA and Secretary Brooke Rollins, both named in the lawsuit filed by the Rhode Island Council of Churches and other nonprofits, that the state had to release funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients.

The funding stopped with the program’s November payment because of the federal government shutdown.

McConnell gave the USDA two options — a partial payment made from the SNAP contingency fund or a full payment that would pull from child nutrition program funds. In a Monday filing, the government elected to send out a partial payment that will send half of the funds to SNAP recipients.

The filing directed the USDA to send states a notice regarding how much each SNAP household should receive. McConnell also said the payment should go out by Wednesday.

“Right now, the Kansas Department for Children and Families has not received this information,” DCF said in a statement Monday. “Once it does, DCF will determine next steps to issue the partial payments and communicate when Kansas SNAP recipients can expect to receive them.”

DCF urged people using SNAP to follow a website created for updates on its main page at dcf.ks.gov.

Haley Kottler, campaign director for food access at Kansas Appleseed, said the partial payment will not be enough to help the 180,000-plus Kansans who put food on their table with SNAP funding.

“Fifty percent of people’s benefits is not going to make ends meet for families,” she said. “We know that 100% of benefits don’t always make ends meet for families, and so we are very worried.”

Kottler said the average SNAP participant receives a little over $185 a month, which breaks down to about $6 a day for food. If only half is received in November, that’s $3 a day for food, which isn’t adequate, she said.

Kottler also said that even if the federal government is able to distribute half the funds to each state by Wednesday, it will be at least 72 hours before the funds can be processed and put onto the debit cards that SNAP recipients use.

What’s happening is “absolutely not a resolution” to the situation, Kottler said. 

“We know that the only resolution that will actually help families on SNAP is the full benefit amount,” she said. “Fifty percent in the holiday season is not going to cut it.”