By Alexis Taylor
AFRO Managing Editor
ATaylor@afro.com
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has issued a state of emergency and signed an executive order that will send $10 million to food banks in efforts to offset the impacts of the federal government shutdown. The move comes on day 30 of the shutdown, which now threatens to impact Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the month of November.
“Withholding funding from food assistance is not just illegal, it’s also cruel. 680,000 Marylanders rely on SNAP to put food on the table—we’re talking about 120,000 older adults; 270,000 children; and 130,000 Marylanders with disabilities. The federal government is looking them in the eyes and saying ‘You’re on your own,’” said Gov. Moore, in an Oct. 30 statement. “But in Maryland, we protect our people. It’s not the work of a single day or a single announcement. It’s an ongoing pledge—one that we refuse to abandon or abridge. We will keep taking this week by week, and work with our legislative partners to do the most we can with the resources we have. In Maryland, we take care of each other. It’s who we are. And together, we will weather this storm and leave no one behind.”
The shutdown started on Oct. 1. when a new federal fiscal year began with no agreement on how to fund it, and no temporary funding plan to give legislators more time to come up with a long-term agreement. According to information released by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), each year Congress has to come to an agreement on mandatory spending, discretionary spending and how to handle interest on debt.
Everything from social security payments to veterans’ benefits and Medicare count as mandatory spending. Funding for federal agencies falls into the discretionary spending bucket, while interest on debt “usually uses less than 10 percent of all funding,” according to the GSA.
At the heart of the latest shutdown is a knock-down, drag out fight over healthcare. In the next spending bill, which has yet to be passed, Democratic lawmakers want to ensure that tax credits implemented under the Affordable Care Act, often called “Obamacare,” continue to keep healthcare affordable.
While Democrats have been blamed for the shutdown, they are holding out and refusing to vote in favor of a bill that does not include the tax credits for healthcare because without them, health insurance costs would significantly increase for millions of Americans. They also want to reverse cuts to Medicaid which were made earlier this year with the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act (OBBB). According to the Center for Medicare Advocacy, “The OBBB cuts over $1 trillion from health programs – the largest rollback of federal support for health care in American history. These cuts will result in an estimated 10 million people losing their health insurance coverage.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, of South Dakota, spoke on the Senate floor on Oct. 30, saying his party is ready to get a funding bill passed.
“Republicans are ready to reopen the government today,” he said. “And we’re not demanding a single thing in exchange. It’s the Democrats who are refusing.”
As lawmakers haggle over whether the funding bill should include the tax credits and reverse parts of OBBB, furloughed federal workers and families of laid off employees from coast to coast are suffering. In Maryland, officials report that roughly 15,000 people have been laid off in 2025 alone.
To counteract some of the economic damage, Maryland officials have offered special loan programs, job fairs and workforce development programming tailored specifically to laid off federal workers. Now, with funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program expected to run out on Oct.31, Moore is doing what he can to ease the burden on Marylanders facing food insecurity.
In the statement released Oct. 30, Moore- Miller Administration officials said the emergency grant funding will come from the Fiscal Responsibility Fund. It will be used to “purchase and distribute additional food for food banks, local pantries, school pantries, and mobile distribution programs, including delivery of meals to older adults or Marylanders with disabilities who cannot easily access pantries.”
The Maryland Department of Human Services is working to decide which organizations will receive funding “based on data-driven disbursement to ensure equitable distribution.”
“The administration will work with food assistance partners in every corner of the state to ensure that resources are distributed transparently, accountably, equitably, and swiftly in the communities with the greatest needs,” said state officials, in the statement. “Marylanders in need of food assistance should visit the 211 Maryland website to locate the nearest food pantry or food bank.”
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen weighed in on the dire situation.
“Donald Trump is intentionally withholding billions of dollars in emergency funds provided by Congress that would keep SNAP benefits flowing in November during this Republican shutdown—deliberately choosing to inflict pain and hunger on millions of American families, including hundreds of thousands of Marylanders,” said Van Hollen, in the statement. “While this Administration turns its back on people struggling to feed their families amid rising costs, Team Maryland continues to stand with them. As we continue to fight in Congress to reopen the government with a responsible funding agreement to rein in Trump’s lawlessness and prevent health care costs from skyrocketing, I’m glad that Governor Moore is taking action to help keep food on Marylanders’ tables.”
