Promised funds are a fraction of the $123.2 million in food assistance benefits that could be lost in November
Gov. Wes Moore (D) declared a state of emergency Thursday to send $10 million to food banks, responding to the Trump administration’s “human-made” crisis when it said funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will run out in November.
“I understand the weight of what it means to put this state under a state of emergency – when the state of emergency is not a natural disaster, when it is a human-made one,” Moore said Thursday at the Anne Arundel County Food Bank. “What’s really unfortunate — is that these are actions that the state of Maryland is taking because the actions that the federal government is taking are actively hurting our people.”
More than 680,000 low-income Marylanders are set to lose their November benefits from the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Moore signed an executive order Thursday declaring the state of emergency and directing $10 million in state funds toward meal assistance programs to alleviate the expected surge when SNAP benefits are denied.
Moore said the state must “move quickly to make sure we’re getting the most support to those most in need” and that the $10 million in additional state funds will go out to “hundreds of institutions with experience of distributing food at the regional level.
Gov. Wes Moore signs an executive order declaring a state of emergency in Maryland. (Photo Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters
“We are also providing support to local nonprofits, faith-based organizations, food kitchens, farmers markets, school pantries and also mobile food units,” he said.
While some lawmakers appreciate the help for meal assistance programs across the state, many note that the $10 million won’t even cover 10% of the $123.2 million state SNAP recipients receive in a typical month.
The $10 million comes from an account funded by capital gains taxes called the Fiscal Responsibility fund. The highly volatile revenue source is difficult to project year to year, but senior administration officials say the fiscal 2025 closeout for those funds was “better than expected” and that about $200 million is sitting in the account.
State fiscal experts treat the revenue like found money, placing it in a separate account to be used for one-time expenses — specifically K-12 and higher education capital projects. Moore’s declaration of a state of emergency allows him to repurpose the money.
Senior administration officials said that they will have more details about how the money will be distributed in the next few days. Meanwhile, more than 371,522 Maryland households are set to lose SNAP benefits for the month of November.
After funding benefits when the government was shut down in October, the Trump administration reversed course last week and announced that it is unable to continue funding SNAP next month, even though critics note there is $6 billion in a U.S. Department of Agriculture account specifically for that purpose. But the White House said it is not allowed to touch that money during a government shutdown/
Unless Congress agrees on a budget, SNAP funding would be halted, the administration said — and it may not reimburse states that decide to fill the gap in the meantime.
The federal funds are set to run out on Saturday, though everyone’s benefit renewal date is different and in Maryland, the first date for which recipients will not have their SNAP benefits renewed for November is Tuesday, Nov. 4. On Tuesday, and every day thereafter, more and more people will find that their EBT cards did not get refilled for the month
Monthly schedule for SNAP benefit renewals. Courtesy of the Maryland Department of Human Services.
More than two dozen states, including Maryland, this week sued the Trump administration in hopes of forcing the government to pay for SNAP amid the shutdown. In the meantime, a handful of governors in other states have signaled they will use state funds to cover SNAP regardless.
Many state lawmakers called on Moore Wednesday to tap the state’s Rainy Day fund to directly backfill missing SNAP benefits, which could have used up upwards of $123.2 million from the state’s designated emergency dollars just for November. Using money from the Fiscal Responsibility fund leaves the state’s Rainy Day funds untouched for now.
Moore’s approach to mend the SNAP benefit cut-off is getting mixed reviews from lawmakers.
Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey (R-Upper Shore) thinks Moore should fund SNAP benefits directly, saying that the governor has “once again passed on the opportunity to lead.”
“Other governors found a way to do this the right way — directly and transparently,” Hershey said in a statement Thursday. “Governor Moore chose the harder, less effective path, handing responsibility off to nonprofits despite his administration’s poor track record of accountability in that space. Marylanders deserved better than confusion and headlines.”
Comptroller Brooke Lierman also supported state action to extend SNAP benefits, in November touting the economic benefits of letting people purchase their groceries within their communities through SNAP funds.
Del. Emily Shetty (D-Montgomery), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees social services, said that $10 million toward food banks is a “good start.”
“$10 million is not a small amount of money,” Shetty said. “It will enable food banks to purchase additional food for distribution efforts. The lines for food banks are already around the blocks.”
However, if the legal challenge to force the Trump administration to release funds for SNAP does not go in Maryland’s favor, Shetty said the next step “has to be an extension of SNAP benefits” by the state.
“Let’s not forget that the total amount of SNAP benefits that are no longer going to be on cards is about $130 million,” Shetty said. “So this is less than 10% of the money that people would otherwise be receiving to purchase food for their families.
Canned Food to be used in meal assistance programs. (Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)
“We can look at it week by week as needed, but as we get further into the holidays and families go deeper into their savings,” she said, “this becomes a more urgent, pressing matter.”
But Moore says that he has “no belief that the federal government is going to reimburse anybody for anything,” and with more than three years left in the Trump administration, be believes it is safer for Maryland’s fiscal outlook to be cautious about dipping into the Rainy Day fund.
“Not only are we going to make sure that we’re protecting and taking care of our people, but also that we’re going to ensure that there is a real measure of fiscal discipline when it comes to how Maryland is going to manage its finances,” he said.
Meanwhile, food banks report increased activity and need in the last few weeks.
Maryland Food Bank CEO Meg Kimmel told reporters Wednesday, prior to Moore’s executive order, that “the need in Maryland has been high for some time” and will likely increase as SNAP benefits come to an end.
“Nationwide, SNAP provides nine meals for every one meal provided by the charitable food system,” Kimmel said Wednesday. “We’re already beginning to see the influx of federal furloughed workers on top of historically high levels of food insecurity that came out of the (COVID-19) pandemic, and those levels never went down.
“The SNAP stoppage will have an immediate impact on even more Marylanders, and we can already see this happening,” she said. “We’ve never been in a situation where a lot of our SNAP benefits have been off the table. So of course, we’re very concerned.”
by Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
October 31, 2025
Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].
Where are these food banks at I would like to know. Live in Hyvattsville MD senior citizen and furloughed but yet I seen absolutely nothing at these churches around here. Where is that money going to what area. Wes Moore are you just talking about all parts of MD or just certain part of MD. I am 64 yrs old and still working for FG and I can’t get anything free nothing. Sad but true we are truly forgotten during this hard time. Never ask for anything but since not working can’t get help paid my taxes and yet my decision I need to move back home to DC. My friends was right about one thing MD doesn’t give you anything when you are down and OUT. I should have listened to them hate to say they was right.