Food shelves at the Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway, West Virginia, during a tour for state legislators on June 22, 2025. (Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
West Virginia’s system for distributing electronic SNAP benefits is not designed to receive an appropriation of state money, according to the governor and lawmakers, leaving the state’s food banks and pantries dependent on donations to feed people during delayed food benefits.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps with feeding about 275,000 West Virginia residents, or one in every six residents of the state. Almost 40% of these recipients are children.
Because of the federal government switch offThe U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, said Nov. 1, “No benefits will be provided.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced this week that he plans to donate up to $13 million in state funds to food banks called out the residents appropriate to the post. Direct funding for SNAP — about $47 million — is not the best option at this time, the governor said.
The state’s SNAP electronic benefits administration company, Fidelity Information Services, is unable to accept direct state funding, according to the governor’s office.
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, noted one Thursday Memo dated Oct. 24 dated The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the agency will not exploit emergency funds to fund food stamps during the shutdown.
She said the state cannot directly fund SNAP because of the change at Fidelity.
“So even if we gave the money to him [West Virginia] “The best thing we can do is fund our food banks,” Young said. I realize it’s not the same, but we don’t have the capacity to fund SNAP benefits because the federal government has taken an unprecedented step to shut down the system.”
Morrisey posted on his X Account Oct. 29 that Fidelity “does not believe it will be possible to send money via EBT in the next few months.”
“That’s why we are moving forward with our plan, which is the fastest way to get food to people in need,” he wrote.
Caitlin Cook, director of advocacy and public policy at the Mountaineer Food Bank, said SNAP is the most effective tool the country has to combat hunger. For every meal the nonprofit food network Food provides, SNAP provides nine, she said.
There is no way the nonprofit food network can make up the entire difference that SNAP benefits make to the 144,000 households that received SNAP.
– Caitlin Cook, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Mountaineer Food Bank
“There is no way the nonprofit food network can make up the entire difference that SNAP benefits provide to the 144,000 households that received SNAP,” Cook said.
House Democrats are calling on Morrisey and GOP lawmakers to provide more food money
In a news conference Thursday, Young and other Democrats in the West Virginia House of Delegates called on Morrisey and federal leaders to do more to address the SNAP crisis. They suggested calling a special session of the legislative session so lawmakers could allocate money for food banks.
House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, said Morrisey hasn’t done enough.
“It costs $1.5 million a day to feed hungry climbers,” Hornbuckle said. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a surplus of over $60 million. We have a medical cannabis fund. We could even follow the example of the governor of Ohio.” [Mike] Dewine, who tapped her rainy day fund. There are opportunities we could exploit now. It’s a bad situation.
“And what we do as a caucus is call ourselves into a special session, whatever needs to be done,” Hornbuckle said. “We will work together to get this thing done.”
Senate President Randy Smith did not respond when asked whether the Republican-led Legislature would consider dipping into the state’s $1.4 billion Rainy Day fund for food banks.
The legislature can exploit this Rainy Day Funda kind of emergency fund, to cover force majeure, budget deficits and other matters solely at the discretion of the legislature.
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, was unable to answer questions for this story due to scheduling conflicts. During Morrisey’s press conference earlier this week, Hanshaw said food security was among the government’s top infrastructure and public safety responsibilities. He praised the governor for filling the void left by a “dysfunctional federal government.”
“Certainly no element of public safety is more on the minds of citizens, particularly across our state, than food security,” Hanshaw said. “And in an environment where food security is already an entrenched issue that we face every day in our communities, a federal government that abdicates its responsibility to deliver essential services and provide essential funding for the functions of government is unacceptable.”
House Democrats also noted that Morrisey could draw on $500 million from the governor’s emergency fund.
Cook said the federal government shutdown has also caused the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program to also be paused, meaning food assistance programs have fewer food supplies to distribute.
The increased demand for nutrition programs will come from multiple sources — including federal workers who are going without a paycheck, people who are not receiving their SNAP benefits and other people who are food insecure but who are not eligible for the SNAP program, she said.
“As a result, pressure is mounting on a nonprofit food network that was already under pressure prior to this government shutdown,” Cook said.
Morrisey spokesman Drew Galang said that “the state continues to evaluate plans to prevent our citizens from going hungry should the federal shutdown extend beyond the first weeks of November.”
He added that Morrisey’s actions to expedite and authorize more than $14 million, including money lawmakers appropriated for food banks earlier this year, are expected to provide up to two weeks of food assistance to SNAP recipients.
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