RICHMOND, Va. β Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that Virginia will suspend its emergency food benefits program as the state prepares to transition back to federal SNAP benefits, with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history just hours from ending.
The Senate funding deal cleared another hurdle overnight and heads to the House for debate and a final vote this evening. The move comes as millions of Americans have been struggling to put food on the table, with food stamp benefits stopped since Nov. 1.
With the U.S. Supreme Court extending a pause on a judge's ruling ordering the Trump administration to release full SNAP benefits ahead of tonight's vote, questions arose about Virginia's emergency food program called VENA.
Youngkin explained the logistical challenge of operating both systems simultaneously.
"We use the same distribution card system, and so you can't run both systems at the same time. It's either the federal system or the state system, and as of the weekend they told us that they needed to do all the prep work to get the federal system deposited and distributed by Thursday of this week," Youngkin said.
The governor said 65% of SNAP benefits should be distributed Thursday, with the remaining 35% released in the weeks after the government reopens.
Virginia's VENA program served as a critical bridge for families during the federal shutdown, but the state must now prepare for the transition back to federal oversight of food assistance programs.
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