Nashville, TN — Senator Paul Bailey (R-Sparta) today urged Governor Bill Lee to find a way to protect Tennessee families from losing access to essential food assistance benefits.
If the federal government does not release funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by November 1, approximately 690,000 Tennesseans, who rely on SNAP each month, could lose essential benefits. The federal government provides around $146 million each month to fund these benefits. Without federal action, those benefits could disappear leaving hundreds of thousands of families, children, individuals with disabilities and seniors without the means to put food on the table.
“This is about Tennessee families,” said Senator Bailey. “Our most vulnerable citizens should not become casualties of Washington’s dysfunction. In my rural district alone, 20,635 individuals depend on SNAP benefits, including working parents, elderly residents and Tennesseans living with disabilities. We cannot allow our neighbors to go hungry while the U.S. Senate argues over spending plans. It’s time for us to step up as a state.”
Bailey acknowledged the Governor’s Office has said Tennessee currently lacks a mechanism to fund and distribute SNAP benefits without federal dollars but emphasized the state must find a way forward.
“We have found ways to innovate before and we can do it again,” Bailey said. “Other states have already taken steps to protect their citizens. Now is the time for Tennessee to do the same.”
To help prepare for a potential lapse in benefits, Bailey has been in contact with several local food banks and is working to help secure additional food supplies for those in the Upper Cumberland who are already being strained.
“In my district, many parents work hard every single day, yet still rely on SNAP benefits to make ends meet, from parents feeding young children to seniors living on fixed incomes and
Tennesseans with disabilities who are unable to work,” Bailey said. “We are the Volunteer State and there’s no better time than now to live up to that name and take care of our own.”
“We can’t wait on the federal government to act,” Bailey added. “Tennessee should take the lead in meeting this challenge. Let’s show the rest of the country what it looks like when leaders put people before politics and compassion before bureaucracy.”
In the meantime, to help address immediate needs, Gov. Lee has announced a new website feedtn.org designed to connect Tennesseans with food resources, volunteer opportunities, and community partners across all 95 counties.
