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State website directly blames Trump for SNAP suspension; lawmaker halts session in protest
Like the Trump administration, the state government is now using official government websites for partisan messaging about SNAP benefits.
As the government shutdown drags on, federal officials say that no SNAP benefits will be issued beginning on Nov. 1. Now, the blame game is ratcheting up in Massachusetts.
Last Friday, a state webpage dedicated to SNAP information was updated with an alert directly blaming President Donald Trump for “choosing not to issue November SNAP benefits.”
The notice is an apparent response to a message that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website currently displays blaming Senate Democrats for the lack of benefits.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA message reads. “We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”
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Now, the issue is threatening to derail the work of the Massachusetts Senate. Angry at the state’s decision to mimic the Trump administration’s tactics, state Sen. Ryan Fattman forced Monday’s session to shut down after only a few minutes. Fattman told State House News Service that he pulled the move in order to “send a message” about the use of taxpayer dollars to perpetuate the circle of blame.
Fattman said that he could similarly halt Thursday’s Senate session. The Republican criticized both the Healey administration and the president.
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“To be fair, it’s happened on the federal level. The president has put out that message. It’s wrong, it’s not mature, it needs to end. And I’m very disheartened with the fact that we’re doing it here in Massachusetts. It’s wrong, it’s immature, it needs to end,” Fattman told SHNS.
Gov. Maura Healey is not shying away from the fight. On the same day the state’s SNAP webpage was updated with language blaming Trump, she issued a press release further tying Trump to the lack of benefits. Her office then posted a video of Healey’s comments to reporters on social media. The president is willingly choosing not to utilize contingency funds that could keep SNAP benefits rolling, Healey said.
“There’s no way that a state, any state in the country, can begin to backfill. Nor should they have to, when there is a contingency fund that was set up precisely for this moment, that the President of the United States just needs to press ‘go’ on, just like every other president has done in American history when there’s been a federal shutdown,” she said.
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On Tuesday, Attorney General Andrea Campbell joined officials from more than 20 other states in suing the Trump administration over its suspension of SNAP benefits.
The USDA says that these contingency funds can only be used to “supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits,” according to reporting from NPR. Since congressional appropriations lapsed on Oct. 1, the contingency funds cannot be used, USDA officials reportedly determined. This apparently contradicts a USDA shutdown plan from before Oct. 1 that said SNAP operations should continue. That document has since been removed from the USDA website.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has used official government websites for partisan messaging. When the government shutdown began about a month ago, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website began displaying a message blaming the “Radical Left in Congress.” Websites for the Department of Justice, the Small Business Administration, and the Department of the Treasury all currently display messages blaming Democrats. Some government ethics experts say the messaging could be in violation of federal law.
Healey is not alone in adopting this type of messaging. Pennsylvania’s webpage on SNAP benefits currently shows a message blaming Republicans in Washington for the lack of benefits.
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Four weeks into the shutdown, any resolution appears far off. In the meantime, officials and local food banks are preparing for an environment where more people are facing hunger. Some 337,000 children in Massachusetts stand to lose access to SNAP benefits, according to Project Bread. About $1 out of every $5 dollars spent at grocery stores in the state are SNAP benefits, and the program contributes $2.6 billion to the state economy each year.
At the same time, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law by Trump earlier this year is imposing major new eligibility restrictions on SNAP benefits nationwide. The Healey administration says that this will eliminate or disrupt the SNAP benefits of more than 150,000 Massachusetts residents.
Over the summer, Healey created a new “Anti-Hunger Task Force” to prepare for SNAP changes and find long-term hunger solutions.
Local Democrats, activists, and nonprofit workers are raising the alarm. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Ed Markey held a press conference at the Project Bread offices in Boston last week to draw attention to the SNAP disruptions.
“This is policy violence. It is violent and — this is the part that gets me — a hundred percent preventable,” Pressley said.
Campbell was set to join representatives from numerous food banks and other community members at a rally outside the State House Tuesday.
“I know what it’s like to watch your parent combine money across bank accounts to be able to take out $10 to buy food,” Campbell said in a social media post Sunday. “By stripping away SNAP benefits, Republicans are guaranteeing millions of our neighbors won’t be able to feed themselves or their families. It’s shameful.”
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Project Bread operates an emergency hotline for Massachusetts residents in need of food assistance.
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