SNAP Is Back, but Trust Is Broken

As Washington state was one of the states to pay out full benefits, Ligon was able to receive her SNAP payments on November 11—but only after enduring a period of significant uncertainty the previous week. SNAP benefits are loaded onto a card, which can then be used to purchase food products. On November 6, Ligon’s future benefits registered as “pending,” so she felt comfortable to go to the grocery store and use the rest of her benefits, knowing that she would have more soon.

“There was a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety going into that whole process, to be honest with you, because I was so happy when I heard everyone was getting their benefits. I was like, ‘OK, we can finally eat,’” Ligon recalled. But the next day, she heard about the U.S. Supreme Court order to halt the administration of full benefits. She tried to check on the status of her pending benefits, but the system was down; when she was able to log in between November 8 and November 10, Ligon said, she could only see her available balance, but not any pending balance.

“There’s just a lot of uncertainty and a lot of unknown, which was very stressful, because I had gone grocery shopping once I had seen that those benefits were pending, and I felt secure. And then I felt like my security was kind of ripped from me again,” continued Ligon. “I still made smart decisions in the groceries that I purchased, but it’s not enough. Like, no matter how you cut it, it’s not enough.”