Stockard on the Stump: Federal food program in midst of funding fight

“We, as state officials, have a duty to step up and lead so that innocent children and disabled and low-income adults do not go hungry or lose vital aid when our state has the means to help them,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

The U.S. government shutdown is affecting everything from state unemployment reports to food stamps and the judiciary, forcing U.S. Attorney’s offices in Tennessee to scale back workers while causing a bit of sniping by state lawmakers.

House Democrats are asking Gov. Bill Lee to call a special session to approve funding for federal food and energy programs as 690,000 Tennesseans face the prospects of losing November benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, if feds drag out the budget stalemate.

“We, as state officials, have a duty to step up and lead so that innocent children and disabled and low-income adults do not go hungry or lose vital aid when our state has the means to help them,” Rep. John Ray Clemmons, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a Thursday statement.

They made their request of the governor following a report that Lee and Republican leaders said they wouldn’t fill the funding gap.

Clemmons backed up his argument by saying Lee called special sessions to create a private-school voucher program, approve a “third-grade retention” bill, address public safety after The Covenant School shooting, set up a Megasite Authority and fund BlueOval City and try to deal with COVID measures. Why not help poor people?

Lee’s office didn’t respond to questions Thursday. A word to the wise: Don’t hold your breath while waiting.

Nearly 1 in 10 Tennesseans could lose SNAP benefits come November if government shutdown continues

Besides the SNAP snafu, Tennessee couldn’t file its September unemployment report this week because of the spending stalemate in Washington, D.C. 

People on unemployment will continue to receive benefits through the state’s Unemployment Insurance Program. But federal workers placed on furlough are being encouraged to file on the state’s website to expedite the process. The state’s trust fund has a balance of $1.5 billion.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in West Tennessee is among those sending employees home, except for personnel exempt from work restrictions during an appropriations lapse, according to information obtained by the Lookout.

Citizens “can be assured” that essential federal law enforcement, criminal prosecution and national security functions will keep going without interruption, the office says. That includes handling cases brought by the Memphis Safe Task Force operation.

U.S. Attorney Mike Dunavant “is not otherwise currently available for a public comment,” the statement says.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville couldn’t be reached this week for comment to see if it’s undertaking the same furlough program, likely because of the mandated layoffs. 

(In a former life, we called this “fur-cation, even though it wasn’t very funny.)

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, a Franklin Republican, laid the blame for the shutdown at the feet of Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

“It’s a simple extension of the existing budget, and I’m tired of the Democrats playing political games with our nation, and a lot of people are going to be hurt by that,” Johnson said.

 

The U.S. Senate is short of the 60 votes it needs to approve the spending measure. Democrats and independents are using that to broker a deal extending health insurance tax credits and reversing Trump’s Medicaid reductions to the poor, elderly and disabled in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Memphis Sen. London Lamar doesn’t see eye to eye with Johnson, pointing out Democrats don’t control any branch of the federal government.

“The problem is you’ve got members of the Republican Party who do not agree with the budget bill in front of them because so many of their constituents, business owners, independent contractors, all of these working-class, middle-class folks are also on the Affordable Care Act, who are dependent on this healthcare system to allow them to access essential care,” said Lamar, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

The big bill threatens 22 million people’s healthcare insurance.

Tossing out the first pitch

The legislature’s new Ways and Means Committee approved acceptance Thursday of a $26 million federal grant to provide services for crime victims.

In its inaugural meeting, the panel received a relative softball. Who’s going to vote against helping people who’ve been robbed or beaten?

The committee took testimony from the Office of Criminal Justice Programs, District Attorneys Conference and other crime victim advocates, who described the necessity of accepting the grant funds for people who, otherwise, would be traumatized as much by the criminal justice system as they were by the crime. Nonprofit agencies receive the majority of the money to provide services such as helping victims at crime scenes, putting them in domestic violence shelters and sitting with them in court.

Lawmakers created the committee this year after legislation was floated that would have required review of every single dollar the feds send this way. Ultimately, they settled on grants exceeding $25 million.

Considering federal funds make up at least 35% of Tennessee’s $59.5 billion budget, this committee has plenty of work ahead. 

One jaded character surmised that lawmakers simply needed another day’s worth of committees so they could collect per diem in the off season.

Looking for money

Two lawmakers joined the group, Make Our Schools Safe Tennessee, this week in the Capitol to push for full funding of Alyssa’s Law.

Adopted on a limited basis, the law is designed to equip school personnel with silent push-button alarms they can use to alert police in case of a shooting, fight or other type of serious disturbance.

Only a couple of school districts are putting the alarm devices to use this year in a pilot program. But Senate Majority Leader Johnson and Rep. Ron Gant said they want to expand the program to every public school statewide.

The law is named for Alyssa Alhadeff, a child killed in the 2018 Parkland Middle School shooting. Several states, including New Jersey, Florida and New York, adopted versions of the measure, but it’s just catching on here.

Holly Walker, co-founder of the school safety group, said the problem took on personal meaning for her seven years ago when she received a text that her niece was in a lockdown at Parkland Middle School with an active shooter on the loose at the nearby high school.

She felt the same way in March 2023 when six people, including three 9-year-olds, were killed at The Covenant School in Nashville.

“Every parent deserves confidence that their child’s school is prepared” for such emergencies, Walker said.

Gant acknowledged the biggest hurdle would be securing funding from the legislature for the panic alarms, which are expected to cost $16,000 per school, about $28.8 million for the state’s 1,800 public schools. 

The plan doesn’t call for putting them in private schools. But since the state is spending $144 million to send 20,000 students to private schools this year, shouldn’t it be just as concerned about their safety as it is about the kids in public schools? 

Funding private and charters

Barely into the state’s first year of a private-school voucher program, a new nonprofit entity called Tennessee Leads is setting lofty goals that would empty the state’s traditional public schools. The dark-money group can lobbying and spend as much as it wants on political campaigns.

Some 20,000 students are receiving $7,300 to attend private schools this year, and another 4,400 attend charter schools, which are considered public but are run by private groups.

Clearly that’s not enough.

Tennessee Leads wants 200,000 vouchers by 2031 and 250,000 students in charter schools. This would leave the state with about 550,000 students in traditional public schools.

Yet it would spend more money if it continues to pay school districts to offset the cost of losing students with vouchers to private schools. 

During debate on the initial Education Savings Account for low-income students six years ago, opponents said approving it would put the camel’s nose under the tent. If this group has its way, the camel will be carrying the tent on its hump.