Indiana Rep. DeLaney urges township trustees to use reserves for food aid as SNAP faces shortfall during shutdown

INDIANAPOLIS — Nov. 4, 2025 — State Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, called on Indiana’s roughly 1,000 township trustees to tap reserve funds to help feed SNAP-eligible households as the federal government shutdown enters a second month and threatens full, on-time food assistance.

In a news release Tuesday, DeLaney said a recent federal court order directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use its contingency fund won’t cover November’s estimated $8 billion in national SNAP benefits. The contingency fund holds about $4.65 billion, according to the release.

DeLaney’s appeal follows a failed motion at the Oct. 29 State Budget Committee meeting, where Rep. Gregory W. Porter, D-Indianapolis, sought $112 million for the Family and Social Services Administration to cover SNAP and $10 million per month for food banks during the shutdown. Republican members voted against the motion, defeating it.

“Almost 600,000 Hoosiers depend on SNAP to be their reliable food source—one in eight of those people are children,” DeLaney said, calling the situation “a cataclysmic failure of government.” He cited an Indiana Township Association memo that he said outlines legal authority for trustees to provide emergency food assistance during disruptions to federal benefits.

“Some township trustees have millions of dollars in their rainy day funds,” DeLaney said. “If hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers facing food insecurity doesn’t constitute a storm, I don’t know what does.”

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