With a halt to federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits looming at the start of November following the Oct. 1 government shutdown, Virginia’s state and local officials are demanding new revenue streams for the program.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent a letter earlier this month to all regional and state agency directors for the program, commonly known as SNAP or “food stamps,” informing them that approximately 42 million Americans nationwide would lose their SNAP benefits next month.
According to the department, that includes about 800,000 Virginians, or about 9% of the commonwealth’s population – over 300,000 of whom are children and over 80,000 of whom are adults under 60 with disabilities…