Tim Skubick

Now what?

The on again/off again SNAP food assistance program has been ping-ponging the 1.4 million hungry recipients in the state back and forth for weeks and with the Supreme’s slapping a hold on the distribution on some of the funds, the question is now what?

The director of the Michigan Council of Food Banks reported last week that he’s seen between a 30-50% boost in those taking food off the shelves and with the holidays creeping up, that number will increase and Dr. Phil Knight advises everyone he does not have enough food in his emergency system to fully replace all the SNAP grub families need.

Perched next to him at the news event, the House GOP Speaker also advises everyone that just like the food banks, the state government can help but it is not a permanent life line either.

Speaker Matt Hall and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer turned on a $4.5 million food spicket which should last about two weeks, one week is already consumed, and then they can dip into what’s left of a $30 million emergency food bucket until it runs dry.

Then what?

Assuming the federal government shutdown drags on, the dynamic duo will have to hunt around for other sources to feed the hungry.

The speaker suggests one of the first places he will look is all that pork barrel spending that lawmakers tucked away in the new state budget. He says the number is around $160 million. Other bean counters suggest it’s closer to $500 million. Last year it was a billion.

Mr. Hall hasn’t much liked diverting tax dollars into this barrel, but being the practical politician that he is, he has bowed to the demands of individual lawmakers who have pet projects clamoring back home just waiting to be fed.

For those who don’t get it, bringing home the “bacon”, especially on the eve of a re-election year, is a time-honored tradition (or dis-honored depending on your point of view) to help cement a lawmaker’s re-election bids. That’s done by keeping the folks at home happy with a new public swimming pool, money for the local symphony orchestra or local barber shop quartet, or what not. The list of demands is longer than all your arms and legs put together.

“I think that’s a great place to look,” he opines with a huge grin on his face as if to say, “I can hardly wait dive into that pork.”

He notes there is lots of pork to divvy-up and “some of these projects…what has a greater benefit to people? Fix a cricket field or feeding people that are hungry?”

If you voted for the cricket field, please go to your room.

The speaker also laments, that the SNAP thing is not the only federally funded assistance program coming into the state. There’s WIC, Head Start, the federal meal program for schools, etc. etc. He figures the state can not possibly shore up all of them.

“We’re estimating it’s over $500 million to backfill and there is no guarantee the state is going to be re-embursted for that,” he warns.

So the drill is, the governor and speaker will get updates from Dr. Knight and all his minors in the hundreds of food banks dotting the state landscape and act accordingly if they can find the where-with-all to do it.

Meanwhile Dr. Knight responds to a question that is sure to come up as all this drags on.

Where will the food council decide to send the food stuffs? It’s a pretty big state with a lot of mouths to feed and population density is part of the equation.

“43% of the people who face food insecurity in Michigan live in the South East and that’s a lot of folks. But people in the upper/lower mitten are just as hungry. So we try to be very equitable in that,” he tried to reassure those who might fear they will get the left-over Spam in outstate Michigan. That intra state issue could get ugly.

Meanwhile the schools are juggling funds to fill in the SNAP gap by going beyond state-funded free breakfast and lunch programs.

Kids, “are coming into our schools hungry and they come in not in the best ability to learn,” advises Bob McCann from the K-12 School Alliance of school superintendents.

“Our kids are not in the schools in the evening, our kids are not in schools over the weekend and yes many of our schools are stepping up and trying to find ways in many cases to send some kids home with some food to make sure they have something to eat that night,” he explains.

The question is how long will this go on?