Federally funded Food Share program running empty during government shutdown

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said Wisconsin’s Food Share program would fall short of it’s November benefits for the nearly 700,000 people in the state enrolled in the program.

Evers stated he received word from the Trump administration saying there was enough funding in the program for about 10 more days, and due to the government shutdown, it wouldn’t be replenished until after the shutdown.

Evers said regardless of if the shutdown ends in the next few days, there would still be delays getting November benefits out to those in the program.

The Department of Health Services said that even if users have a balance left over in their account at the end of October, those funds would likely not be available in November, so it’s encouraged to use all funds available in October to buy staples that won’t go bad, to get them through November.

The announcement by Evers confused many on social media as he recently made the announcement that Wisconsin ended the 2024 fiscal year with an over $4 billion surplus, but the Food Share program is 100 percent funded by the federal government, not individual states.

With funds running dry, the impact would spread over 42 million people nationwide who get at least some sort of assistance in the program.

The government shutdown is now in it’s fourth week.