The office of Washington, D.C.‘s attorney general said Mayor Muriel Bowser cannot withhold additional allocations of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and must follow the law to boost benefits starting in January.
Bowser’s administration was instructed by the D.C. Council to raise payments for residents in need of extra support under the “Give SNAP a Raise Amendment Act of 2022” enacted earlier this year. However, Bowser has refused to enhance aid, mentioning budget and staffing constraints.
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The office of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a recent letter that Bowser does not have the authority to refuse raising the benefit allotments to SNAP users. Ward 4 Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George requested an analysis from the office; the council has pushed back against Bowser’s decision, pointing to excess revenue in the district’s budget.
“The Mayor may not unilaterally divert or withhold funds appropriated for the SNAP benefit increase,” the attorney general’s office wrote, adding that only in an “imminent threat of an actual spending deficiency” addressed by the district’s office of the chief financial officer would Bowser’s withholding of benefits be warranted.
It is unclear whether the attorney general’s office’s letter will force Bowser to provide the additional funds. Recipients should still expect their regular allotment of SNAP but were supposed to receive a boost from January 2024 to September 2024 thanks to the “Give SNAP a Raise” bill. It was passed in December 2022 but was not funded by the council until earlier this year.
Under the bill, SNAP recipients would collect a 10% enhancement to their monthly payments, or an additional $47 per month, on average. Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee said in September that there was sufficient excess revenue to provide the extra funds to over 136,000 residents. An amendment added to the bill would dedicate additional revenue to undocumented residents and other workers who are excluded from SNAP and other government relief programs.
Higher than expected revenue from sales and corporate income tax brought the city’s 2023 revenue estimates up by $178.8 million, Lee said in a September letter reviewing 2023 revenue estimates to Bowser. The money required to produce additional SNAP funds equaled $39.6 million, which was then transferred to the Department of Human Services budget.
However, Bowser’s administration said in early December that they did not have the staffing numbers to implement the boost.
“The budget for the Department of Human Services, to put it mildly, is underwater at this point,” Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage told the Washington Post.
At-large Councilwoman Christina Henderson, who led her fellow council members in the “Give SNAP a Raise” bill, said Bowser is pitting programs against one another. Henderson pointed out in a public letter in November that the cost-of-living adjustment hasn’t been funded for years and is not included in Bowser’s latest budget proposal.
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“I am exceptionally frustrated by the Mayor’s choice,” Henderson said. “The Executive has chronically underfunded public benefit enrollment and allotments, and now they claim that they cannot implement Give SNAP a Raise because of spending pressures that they have created.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Bowser’s office for comment.
