COLUMBIA – Governor Henry McMaster announced the activation of the Central Carolina Community Foundation's One SC Fund and directed the South Carolina State Guard (SCSG) to assist food banks statewide in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) announcement that federal funding for SNAP benefits (food stamps) will be halted beginning November 1, 2025, due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
"While South Carolina cannot fully replace federal SNAP benefits, we can and we will step up to help our neighbors," said Governor Henry McMaster. "By activating the One SC Fund and with the assistance of the State Guard, we're supporting South Carolina families in need. In times like these, South Carolinians are eager to help, and I encourage those who are willing to donate to the One SC Fund or volunteer at your local food bank."
The activation of the One SC Fund will allow for a coordinated charitable giving campaign dedicated to providing direct monetary assistance to regional food banks and local feeding partners across the state.
“The suspension of SNAP benefits will hit our children, seniors, and people with disabilities hardest,” said Georgia Mjartan, President and CEO of Central Carolina Community Foundation. “We are asking every corporation, foundation, and individual to step up now—so food banks can respond before the gap becomes a catastrophe.”
The SCSG, an all-volunteer organization separate from the S.C. National Guard, will assist food banks and pantries with distribution operations, traffic flow, and in any other ways necessary to ensure these sites remain safe, orderly, and efficient as demand increases over the coming days.
“This is an opportunity for all of us to work together and take care of those in our state who need our help,” said Sheriff Leon Lott, Commander of the South Carolina State Guard. “The State Guard includes more than 400 men and women, trained and ready for missions like this. Our soldiers will be on the ground assisting food banks and ensuring operations are carried out safely and efficiently.”
The One SC Fund is administered by the Central Carolina Community Foundation in Columbia. Established in 2015 following Hurricane Joaquin with support from Governor Nikki Haley, the fund serves as South Carolina’s coordinated philanthropic response to disasters. Since its creation, the fund has been activated in response to Hurricanes Matthew, Florence, and Helene, and the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Those who wish to contribute can donate directly to the One SC Fund by visiting www.yourfoundation.org.
According to the South Carolina Department of Social Services, there are more than 556,000 South Carolinians, representing 266,000 households, who received federal SNAP benefits in September 2025, totaling approximately $104 million. According to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, there are more than 900 food banks and pantries statewide.
FOOD FIGHT:
Upcoming federal food assistance pause intensifies shutdown fight
BY: ARIANA FIGUEROA AND JENNIFER SHUTT - OCTOBER 27, 2025 5:44 PM
WASHINGTON — The stakes of the ongoing government shutdown rose Monday as the U.S. Department of Agriculture doubled down on its position that food benefits for November could not be paid and a union for federal workers implored lawmakers to pass a stopgap measure.
As the government shutdown entered day 27, President Donald Trump’s administration sought to add pressure on U.S. Senate Democrats to approve the House Republicans’ stopgap government funding bill by refusing to use USDA resources to stretch critical food assistance benefits to the most vulnerable Americans.
USDA confirmed over the weekend it will not follow its own contingency plan — which the department has removed from its website — to tap into its multi-year contingency fund to cover food assistance for more than 42 million people for November.
The department also pinned a fiery message to its website blaming Democrats for the lapse in benefits and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Democrats to approve a stopgap funding measure to restore food assistance.
Democrats have voted against the GOP short-term spending bill to draw attention to and force negotiations on tax credits that will expire at the end of the year for people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” according to the banner across USDA’s website. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 1. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”
The banner falsely indicated that Democrats’ sole goal was to provide health insurance to immigrants in the country without legal authorization and transgender patients.
Reversal on SNAP contingency
But the move represents a reversal from the administration’s own policy, laid out in a Sept. 30 contingency plan on the eve of the shutdown that States Newsroom reported Friday.
The plan detailed how the agency would use the contingency fund provided by Congress to continue benefits. The fund holds roughly $6 billion, about two-thirds of a month of SNAP benefits, meaning USDA would still have to reshuffle an additional $3 billion to cover the remainder for November.
Hundreds of Democratic lawmakers, and the top Senate Republican appropriator, Susan Collins of Maine, have pressed USDA to use its contingency fund.
Democrats, such as New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, have also criticized the Trump administration for refusing to use its resources, despite the contradiction in its own Sept. 30 contingency plan and its shuffling of funds for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC.
“We know that Trump has the resources to continue SNAP and other programs like WIC,” Booker said. “Weaponizing food assistance is, simply put, a new and disgusting low.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer echoed that sentiment in a floor speech Monday.
“The administration is making an intentional choice not to fund SNAP this weekend,” the New York Democrat said. “The emergency funding is there. The administration is just choosing not to use it.”
USDA did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Millions of vulnerable people, such those who have low incomes or are living with disabilities, rely on SNAP. About 40% of SNAP recipients are children 17 and younger.
Union calls for stopgap
Another form of pressure on Democrats arrived Monday with the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, calling for lawmakers to strike a deal to reopen the government.
As the shutdown nears a month, most of the roughly 2 million civilian federal workers have already missed paychecks.
The AFGE is typically more politically aligned with Democrats and had held off on publicly weighing in in favor of a stopgap until Monday when Everett Kelley, the union’s president, called for Congress to end the government shutdown and pass a continuing resolution to resume funding.
“Because when the folks who serve this country are standing in line for food banks after missing a second paycheck because of this shutdown, they aren’t looking for partisan spin,” Kelley said in the statement. “They’re looking for the wages they earned. The fact that they’re being cheated out of it is a national disgrace.”
Johnson added that he hopes the recent statement from the union representing 800,000 federal workers pushes Senate Democrats to approve the House’s stopgap.
“They understand the reality of this,” he said.
Johnson defends USDA move
Johnson defended USDA’s decision not to use its contingency fund for SNAP during a morning press conference.
USDA has argued that those funds can only be used for natural disasters or similar emergencies.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, agreed with that reasoning.
“It certainly looks legitimate to me,” he said. “The contingency funds are not legally available to cover the benefits right now. The reason is because it’s a finite source of funds. It was appropriated by Congress, and if they transfer funds from these other sources, it pulls it away immediately from school meals and infant formula. So … it’s a trade off.”
USDA earlier this month reshuffled funds to several nutrition programs, including WIC, the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
States scrambling
States are demanding answers about why USDA has paused SNAP benefits. On Friday, 23 state attorneys general sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and questioned the legal basis for the agency to pause benefits for SNAP.
In the face of disappearing federal funds, states may choose to spend more on food assistance,
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said Monday she would “fast-track” $30 million in state emergency food assistance to supplement SNAP benefits.
Johnson said that if Senate Democrats are worried about SNAP benefits not being available for November, they should pass the House’s stopgap government funding bill.
“The best way for SNAP benefits to be paid on time is for the Democrats to end their shutdown, and that could happen right now, if they would show some spine,” Johnson said.
Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include immigration, congressional policy and legal challenges with a focus on how those policies impact the lives of immigrants and migrants coming to the U.S.
Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
USDA won’t shuffle funds to extend SNAP during shutdown, in about-face from earlier plan
BY: SHAUNEEN MIRANDA AND ARIANA FIGUEROA - OCTOBER 27, 2025 5:00 AM
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a memo Friday the agency’s contingency fund cannot legally be used to provide food assistance benefits for more than 42 million people in November, as the government shutdown drags on.
The position is a reversal from the department’s earlier stance, according to a since-deleted copy of the USDA’s Sept. 30 shutdown plan that said the department would use its multi-year contingency fund to continue paying Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits during the ongoing shutdown.
SNAP has about $6 billion in the contingency fund — short of the roughly $9 billion needed to cover a full month of the program, putting November benefits in jeopardy.
Because of a stalemate in Congress over a stopgap spending bill, the government shut down on Oct. 1 without new SNAP funding enacted.
Grocery aid in SC
FROM SC DAILY GAZETTE
Last month, 266,350 households in South Carolina received SNAP benefits.
They helped feed a total of 556,359 people in those homes.
On average, each household received $390 in grocery assistance for a total distribution statewide of $103.8 million for the month of September.
Source: S.C. Department of Social Services
The memo, which was first reported by Axios on Friday, said states would not be reimbursed if they use their own funds to cover the cost of the benefits.
“There is no provision or allowance under current law for States to cover the cost of benefits and be reimbursed,” the memo says, while also noting that “the best way for SNAP to continue is for the shutdown to end.”
Discrepancy with shutdown plan
The memo also says the contingency fund is meant for natural disasters and similar emergencies, not for a lack of appropriations.
But USDA’s Sept. 30 contingency plan contradicts that and appears to greenlight the use of SNAP’s contingency fund during a lapse in funding.
“Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds that can be used for State Administrative Expenses to ensure that the State can also continue operations during a Federal Government shutdown,” according to the plan. “These multi-year contingency funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”
USDA’s contingency plan is no longer online, but is accessible through an internet archive.
After providing States Newsroom with the memo Friday afternoon, USDA did not immediately respond to a follow-up inquiry about the discrepancy between Friday’s memo and its contingency plan.
In the memo, USDA said transferring money toward SNAP from other sources “would pull away funding for school meals and infant formula.”
The agency said it has shuffled funds to cover several nutrition programs during the shutdown, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, as well as the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
Dems call on Rollins to tap into fund
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said last week the government would run out of funds to deliver November SNAP benefits as a result of the ongoing shutdown.
Friday morning, U.S. House Democrats, like nearly all of their Senate counterparts and the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, urged Rollins to not only use the contingency fund, but to reprogram other money to cover a $3 billion shortfall.
“A potential lapse in benefits would be felt by Americans of all ages and affect every corner and congressional district in the country,” according to the letter from more than 200 House Democrats.
In a separate letter, 46 Senate Democrats sent to Rollins on Wednesday, voicing concerns that USDA told states to hold off on sending in SNAP benefits to be processed for November.
“We were deeply disturbed to hear that the USDA has instructed states to stop processing SNAP benefits for November and were surprised by your recent comments that the program will ‘run out of money in two weeks,’” according to the letter. “In fact, the USDA has several tools available which would enable SNAP benefits to be paid through or close to the end of November.”
The chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Republican Susan Collins of Maine, also urged Rollins in a Thursday letter to “consider all available options in accordance with federal law to ensure that this vital nutrition assistance continues, including the use of contingency funds and looking at the viability of partial payments or any transfer authority you may have.”
Benefits could be slow even if a deal reached
States have been told by the agency to hold off on submitting SNAP benefit requests to processing centers. Food banks and pantries are already bracing for the increased need, including in Iowa, where more than 270,000 Iowans rely on SNAP each month.
However, even if Congress immediately reached a deal to end the shutdown, the time needed to process the payments and make them available for recipients means SNAP benefits would likely be delayed. State officials have warned SNAP recipients of the possibility of delays.
In West Virginia, officials said delays are expected and told residents to seek assistance at local food pantries. Roughly 1 in 6 West Virginia residents rely on SNAP each month.
Legal requirement cited
Sharon Parrott, a White House Office of Management and Budget official during the Obama administration who now leads a left-leaning think tank, said in a Thursday statement that USDA is legally required to use its SNAP contingency funds.
Parrott, the president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the multi-year contingency fund is “billions of dollars that Congress provided for use when SNAP funding is inadequate that remain available during the shutdown — to fund November benefits for the 1 in 8 Americans who need SNAP to afford their grocery bill.”
Parrott said the Trump administration could use its legal transfer authority, just as it did with WIC funding, to “supplement the contingency reserves, which by themselves are not enough to fund families’ full benefits.”
Shauneen Miranda is a reporter for States Newsroom’s Washington bureau. An alumna of the University of Maryland, she previously covered breaking news for Axios.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
