Nevada Democrats propose $136M to restore SNAP aid after benefits paused
Should Gov. Joe Lombardo request a special legislative session, Nevada Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they would request up to $136.5 million to create an emergency program that would fully supplement paused federal food stamp benefits through December, if needed.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, serves nearly 500,000 Nevadans at a monthly cost to the federal government of about $90 million.
SNAP benefits were paused on Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown, prompting the state to provide nearly $40 million to supplement two food banks in Nevada that supply hundreds of food pantries, days earlier.
Two courts on Friday ordered the Trump administration to continue funding the program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated it would tap into an emergency fund to pay for about 50 percent of this month’s benefits.
But President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that his administration would not release the funds.
In a social media post, Trump said that SNAP benefits increased “MANY FOLD” during former President Joe Biden’s administration, including for people who did not need the benefit.
The benefits, the president said, “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
$136 million plan
Under the Nevada Senate Democrats proposal, the state would allot $45.5 million to pay for the other 50 percent of benefits USDA said it would fund this month, and $91 million for December’s benefits, “if necessary,” according to Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro’s office.
“Disbursement timelines will be determined in coordination with the state’s Division of Social Services (DSS),” the office wrote. “The program is intended to be limited in scope, only covering periods where Congress allows funding for SNAP to lapse.”
Nevada Social Services Administrator Robert Thompson warned legislators last week that USDA has repeatedly told Nevada officials that it can’t access SNAP data or directly fund the federal program.
He was answering questions from Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager about whether Nevada could directly infuse current electronic benefit transfer cards with state dollars.
“The mechanisms are there that we could put dollars in those EBT funds, but they have advised me that it would put our programs at risk in the future,” Thompson told the Interim Finance Committee.
Nevada Senate Democrats said their proposal mirrors efforts in Louisiana and Virginia.
The plan, they said, “will establish a new state benefit program as a separate benefit distinct from SNAP — but utilizing the vendor framework and existing EBT cards — to provide cash assistance to SNAP enrollees in Nevada.”
They added: “Structuring the program this way will prevent the state from conflicting with federal regulations and guidance regarding direct state funding of SNAP benefits.”
Classified database
Lombardo on Monday reiterated that Nevada can’t access SNAP data.
“We don’t have that mechanism,” the governor told reporters from Three Square’s North Las Vegas headquarters.
He said SNAP differs from the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, WIC.
Those programs, Lombardo said, are “federal into a state process,” while SNAP is a “federal into a private vendor process.”
“We don’t have access into that system to affect that delivery,” said the governor, adding that it would take Nevada about six weeks to establish its own program.
“The additional piece on that is that it’s a classified sequestered database of exactly who is on SNAP,” Lombardo said.
Lombardo vowed that the state would continue to keep SNAP beneficiaries and federal employees fed during the shutdown.
His administration was waiting to see how the legal challenges to the SNAP pause proceed this week to inform how Nevada plans to move forward, and whether it will require a special legislative session to address.
Lombardo’s office did immediately respond to an inquiry seeking comment on the Democrats’ proposal.
Attorney General Aaron Ford joined Nevada in one of the lawsuits seeking the release of SNAP benefits.
“Even if the Trump administration does ultimately comply with the court’s order, contingency funds would only cover partial benefits payments for November, and we may still face a situation where the ongoing federal shutdown causes benefits to lapse again at the end of this month,” Cannizzaro wrote in a news release.
