Gleaners: Snap Cutoff Previews ‘Disaster’ For Hoosiers
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Even as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history officially ended this week, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana is keeping its emergency response efforts “on the gas,” warning that the temporary halt in SNAP benefits was a grim preview of disastrous, permanent cuts slated for the program.
While federal funding legislation has passed, ensuring food and nutrition programs like SNAP, WIC, and TEFAP are funded through September 30, 2026, Gleaners CEO Fred Glass stressed that the recently concluded SNAP cutoff underscored the program’s critical role.
“The SNAP cutoff reinforced my belief that the SNAP cuts embedded in the budget reconciliation legislation passed last July will be a disaster for the food insecure, other Indiana workers, and every Hoosier,” said Glass.
The legislation that reopened the government does not alter the SNAP cuts that were already enacted last July. These permanent cuts, effective beginning in fiscal year 2028, will:
Cut 15%, or $214 million, of food access for Hoosiers in need.
This loss is the equivalent of 80 million meals that the charitable food system cannot replace.
More than 610,000 Hoosiers, including 264,000 children, rely on SNAP and will face hunger as a result.
Shift $46 million in SNAP administrative costs to Indiana taxpayers, effectively reducing funding for those who rely on the benefits.
Despite the restoration of benefits, Gleaners is significantly ramping up efforts to meet the current record number of food-insecure Hoosiers. The organization continues to ask its distribution and transportation staff to significantly extend their work shifts leading into the Thanksgiving holiday to replenish depleted inventories at food pantries.
Gleaners is also planning a second special food distribution specifically for members of the Army National Guard who served during the shutdown without pay.
Glass expressed deep gratitude to the state of Indiana for its swift administrative action to issue all partial SNAP payments quickly, ensuring no recipient missed a November payment. However, he emphasized that the charitable food system cannot replace federal support.
“For every meal the entire charitable food system provides, the federal government has traditionally provided nine,” Glass observed. “So, when the federal government retreats from that role… no one food bank – or even every food bank working together – can come close to meeting the need.”
Glass urged Congress to heed the lesson learned during the shutdown. “Let’s hope that lesson leads them to restore future SNAP funding,” he concluded.
