Syracuse, N.Y. - Nearly 100,000 people in Central New York who depend on SNAP benefits to pay for their groceries should get their money by the end of this week.
Onondaga County spokesman Justin Sayles said the county has issued everyone’s full benefits for November.
More than 50,000 people in Onondaga County, and 100,000 across Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego and Madison counties, depend on the federal program to buy groceries every month.
Some in Onondaga County received their payments as early as Sunday. Everyone should be paid by Thursday, Sayles said.
The same is true across the state, according to information from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which oversees the benefits, also referred to as “food stamps,” statewide.
The money, which pays for groceries for 3 million people across the state and 42 million nationwide, has become a political football in the government shutdown.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which funds the program, had a contingency budget to pay for SNAP in an emergency. Initially, the department said that fund would protect the food program during the shutdown.
But then it reversed course. States, including New York, sued to force the government to use that money and additional money to fully fund benefits during the shutdown. The issue is still moving through the courts.
But several states, including N.Y., decided this weekend to fully fund the benefits following a court decision that directed the Trump administration to fund the program. The Trump administration, however, appealed and has told states to take that money back from people.
Sayles said people who had new SNAP cases that were approved for Nov. 1 may see a longer delay in getting the benefit.
