Marylanders receiving federal assistance could be impacted by government shutdown

With a government shutdown underway, Maryland residents who rely on federally funded food assistance programs, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), are concerned. 

It is unclear if and when benefits could be disrupted for SNAP and WIC recipients, but local and state leaders said Wednesday they are working on ways to mitigate any potential impacts. 

"Services funded by grants at a local level won't be immediately impacted," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said. "We'll be monitoring that as well. If the long-term shutdown does occur, we will do everything that we can to maintain the services for our residents. We'll be ready to do what we can based on what's happening on the ground in real time." 

"We are not tapping into rainy day to do so, but we are making sure we can do everything in our power for as long as we can to make up for the fact that the federal government has left every single state on its own," said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. 

"Continue to utilize the benefits"

State food assistance experts told WJZ that whether SNAP or WIC recipients will be impacted depends on how long the federal shutdown lasts.

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) warns that November SNAP benefits could be delayed or interrupted entirely if state agencies do not receive instructions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on time.

"We have a little bit of a leeway with SNAP, but WIC is the most dire and the most critical right now," said LaMonika Jones, with Maryland Hunger Solutions and D.C. Hunger Solutions, Food Research & Action Center (FRAC). "If we get to November and we are still in a shutdown, or as we go throughout October, we're looking at a potential delay in terms of USDA being able to administer those benefits to state agencies." 

According to the 2025 Maryland Hunger Profiles, the state has more than 692,000 SNAP participants and nearly 30,000 women, infants, and children participating in WIC. 

For now, experts and officials said to continue to use your SNAP and WIC benefits as usual, but it is important to be aware that things could change if the shutdown lasts longer than a few weeks.

"Continue to utilize the benefits. We don't want to cause any panic in anyone," Jones said. "WIC is not shutting down, it's not ending. Same thing for SNAP, SNAP is not shutting down. Continue to operate until we have more clarity."

Will benefit recipients see delays?

Jones, who oversees both Maryland Hunger Solutions and D.C Hunger Solutions at FRAC. explained that with the government shutdown, they are working to make sure that they have as much information as they can.

"We're looking at a potential delay in terms of USDA being able to administer those benefits to state agencies, and then state agencies being able to administer those benefits to our clients," Jones said. "That includes the Department of Human Services (DHS), which administers our SNAP, Medicaid benefits, as well as Maryland WIC, and the Department of Health, which administers the WIC program." 

Jones made it clear that those receiving their SNAP benefits in October will still receive their payments for the first month. However, she explained that if the shutdown goes beyond three to four weeks, states may have to come up with a backup plan, or recipients could see delays.

"We rely on USDA to submit those dollar amounts to the state agency, on time, so that they can then distribute them to the SNAP clients across the state. So, the longer we go, the more delays," Jones said. 

Jones added, "The other piece to this is WIC, and so WIC functions a lot differently than SNAP does. SNAP is an entitlement program, which means the funding is there, but WIC is not an entitlement program, which means that WIC has funding for WIC that has to be appropriated every year." 

"So, whatever is in that pot of money remaining as of yesterday [Tuesday], that's what they have to allocate with benefits to recipients until either a full budget is passed," Jones explained. "Currently, WIC is looking at a couple of weeks before benefits will run out." 

Uncertainty for other benefit programs

Tracy Broccolino, the President of the Community Action Council of Howard County, told WJZ there is also a level of uncertainty for other local programs families rely on, such as rely on, such as Head Start.

"There are many Head Start programs across the state that are inside Community Action Agencies like ours, where things like that that are really fundamental social supports that we've all agreed on as a nation, to support those that are the most vulnerable and in the most need, those are all in question," Broccolino said. "There are several programs already in question, in terms of whether or not they will continue to exist."