New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, on Thursday declared a state of emergency to free up funds so that she could issue $65m in assistance to food banks because federal funding for the national food stamp program is set to lapse on 1 November.
Oregon and Virginia have also issued emergency declarations to release state cash to go towards emergency food assistance as the federal government shutdown imperils Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits for nearly 42 million Americans.
And Louisiana, New Mexico and Vermont on Wednesday announced they were providing help for low-income households that rely on food stamps to get enough to eat.
The money will go to food banks and pantries, community resources which are already under strain.
New York state receives nearly $650m in federal funding for Snap benefits each month, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Neither Congress nor the Trump administration has acted to fund November Snap benefits, which cost about $8bn per month.
Most states, including New York, have said they cannot afford to pay the benefits themselves. The Legal Aid Society on Thursday said New York does have the means to fund Snap and should draw on state resources to do so.
“The Trump administration is cutting food assistance off for three million New Yorkers, leaving our state to face an unprecedented public health crisis and hurting our grocers, bodegas and farmers along the way,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Unlike Washington Republicans, I won’t sit idly by as families struggle to put food on the table.”
Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, a Republican, said the state will draw on surplus funds to pay for up to a month of Snap benefits. Tina Kotek, Oregon’s Democratic governor, on Wednesday pledged $5m to food banks and declared a 60-day food security emergency.
Twenty-one Democratic governors on Thursday sent a letter to Donald trump demanding that the USDA draw on contingency funds and other sources to fund November benefits.
“Halting Snap benefits will put millions of Americans at risk of food insecurity and poverty. Snap is more than a food assistance program, it is a lifeline,” the letter said.
A coalition of more than two dozen Democratic states and governors sued the administration this week to issue the contingency funds and appeared Thursday before a federal judge in Boston.
Reuters contributed reporting
