West Virginia House Democrats urge Trump, state Congress members to take action on SNAP

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WOWK) — West Virginia House Democrats are calling on federal leaders to take immediate action to fund SNAP, which is set to come to a halt in less than 48 hours.

The state’s Democratic delegates sent a pair of letters to West Virginia’s Congressional delegation and to President Donald Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. Both letters stress the urgency of providing SNAP benefits to those in need who rely on food assistance.

In the letter to Trump and Rollins, the delegates emphasized, “we cannot allow 28% of kids in West Virginia, and millions around the nation to go hungry.”

“Food banks in Appalachia and around the country cannot absorb this level of need,” the House Democrats wrote to Trump and Rollins. “Our grocery stores and small businesses in rural communities depend on SNAP dollars to survive. Every day without action pushes more families toward impossible choices between food, medicine, and rent. Any halt in SNAP funding will have devastating health and economic effects.”

The letter to Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice and Representatives Carol Miller and Riley Moore, all Republicans, the delegates stressed that more than 270,000 West Virginians and millions of others across the country need action from Congress now.

“We need you to use every tool at your disposal for our Mountaineers. Urge Senate and House Leadership to support the multiple standalone SNAP bills before you or negotiate to fully reopen the government and fully restore SNAP funding,” the letter to the state’s Congressional Delegation reads. “Call President Trump and Secretary Rollins to ensure the USDA acts immediately to release contingency funds previously appropriated by Congress for this very situation and remind the USDA to use its transfer authority under 7 U.S.C. § 2257 to fully fund November benefits.”

“Without a solution, federal food assistance will lapse for the first time since the program’s inception.”

W.Va. House Democrats.

To learn more about how to find food assistance programs in West Virginia, click here. For programs in southeastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky, click here.