For a brief moment, it looked as if Governor Glenn Youngkin might use his powers to help the 850,000 Virginia families facing the loss of food assistance after President Donald Trump suspended federal SNAP benefits. When the president announced his action in mid-October, 26 states immediately sued to stop it; Virginia was not one of them. But Youngkin, in apparent recognition of the impact of the president’s action, declared a State of Emergency on November 1 so state dollars could be used to replace a portion of this food assistance cut by the administration. Similar emergency declarations were issued by Governors Murphy of New Jersey, Lamont of Connecticut, Grisham of New Mexico and Meyer of Delaware, and contingency funds accessed in states from Maine to Arkansas to help the needy.
Dubbed the Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance (VENA) program, it would draw $145 million from the state’s $2.1 billion surplus to replace 25% of household SNAP benefits, distributed weekly so it could be suspended if the shutdown ended or the courts intervened. It wasn’t enough, but it was something — at least a small help to hungry Virginians as Thanksgiving approached.
SNAP typically was funded during shutdowns
Youngkin has consistently blamed Democrats for the shutdown and “shameless partisan attacks on Virginians in need,” ignoring that SNAP has typically been funded during previous shutdowns, using the program’s contingency fund, which now totals almost $5 billion. But this White House is different, rejecting the usual approach in favor of using hungry Americans as leverage with Democrats to end the shutdown. Youngkin also apparently forgot that Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” already cut SNAP by $186 billion. Cuts in Virginia are shown below.
Federal courts initially sided with those who argued that the administration is required to use contingency funds to keep SNAP running. On October 31, a federal judge found that USDA would likely be legally required to use the contingency funds to fund SNAP during the shutdown. Another federal judge in Rhode Island ordered contingency funds to be released immediately, a decision upheld by the First Court of Appeals. But the Supreme Court then intervened and found that all court orders requiring release of the monies would have to wait for further deliberation in the lower courts. To say that these decisions have created confusion is an understatement.
Trump pushes — Youngkin relents
On November 8, just days before the shutdown’s end, the Trump administration said it would restore only 65% of SNAP benefits and warned states to “undo” any efforts to provide more — threatening consequences if they refused. Youngkin apparently interpreted this “federal guidance” to mean that the modest benefits provided with state dollars through VENA should end. He quickly complied, “pausing” VENA on November 9, even before the shutdown deal was known or finalized.
On November 12, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to end. Under the deal, SNAP will be funded through September 2026. For Governor Youngkin, the timing was convenient; the deal was reached just soon enough to keep most Virginians from noticing how quickly his brief independence crumbled under Trump’s pressure.
David J. Toscano practices law in Charlottesville and served 14 years in the Va. House of Delegates. He is the author of Fighting Political Gridlock: How States Shape Our Nation and Our Lives, University of Virginia Press, 2021, and Bellwether: Virginia’s Political Transformation, 2006-2020, Hamilton Books, 2022. He writes on Substack at Fights of Our Lives.