Connecticut Proposes $300 Grocery Cards For Residents Losing SNAP Benefits

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Wednesday a proposal to use $8.5 million from Connecticut’s Federal Cuts Response Fund to provide $300 grocery assistance cards to approximately 25,000 state residents expected to lose federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits because of changes to federal eligibility rules.

Under the proposal, eligible residents who recently lost SNAP eligibility due to changes in federal work requirements would receive a grocery assistance card that can be used to purchase food at grocery stores. Applicants also would be connected with services intended to help them regain SNAP eligibility when possible.

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"Connecticut will not stand by as the Trump administration uses hunger as a weapon against working families, veterans, and our most vulnerable," Lamont said in a statement. "These new SNAP work requirements represent a cruel decision and fundamental shift away from the program’s core mission of ensuring our neighbors don’t go hungry. I am particularly troubled by the decision to eliminate the exemption for veterans who risked their lives for our country and now are having the rug pulled out from under them. We are providing this assistance as a bridge to prevent people from going hungry as we help them navigate these changes. I hope that Congress will end the inhumane and immoral cuts that President Trump pushed for after Americans elect a new Congress this fall."

The benefits and related services would be administered by the Connecticut Department of Social Services through a partnership with the state’s network of community action agencies. The agencies would assist with outreach, eligibility verification and benefit distribution.

The proposal also includes $1 million for administrative costs associated with distributing the aid and providing related services.

"No one in Connecticut should have to worry about putting food on the table because of a policy decision made in Washington," DSS Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves said. "This one-time grocery assistance will provide an immediate lifeline to thousands of our neighbors who are losing food benefits through no fault of their own. The Connecticut Department of Social Services is in complete support of Governor Lamont’s commitment to reach every eligible resident as quickly as possible. And we want to express our deep appreciation to the community action agencies for their partnership, which will ensure that this support gets into the hands of those who need it most."

State Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown and co-chair of the legislature’s Human Services Committee, said he supported the funding proposal because of concerns about the impact of federal policy changes on residents who rely on nutrition assistance.

"I pushed for this nutrition funding because I see the devastation from HR1 and the Trump administration every day in my neighborhood in Middletown and across the district I represent," Lesser said. "The president just last week said he doesn’t care about families struggling with high gas and grocery prices. We are lucky to have Governor Lamont who gets up every day and works to protect the people of Connecticut from Washington overreach. I am incredibly grateful that he is doing the right thing—and promising to do more going forward. I am excited to partner with Governor Lamont and DSS on nutrition supports."