2024 SNAP increase: DC mayor faces possible lawsuit over delay in benefits

DC mayor faces possible lawsuit over SNAP benefits delay

FOX 5's Stephanie Ramirez has learned that at least one group is now looking into whether they can sue D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over a battle to support enhanced food assistance for D.C. residents in need.

WASHINGTON - FOX 5 has learned that at least one group is now looking into whether they can sue D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over a battle to support enhanced food assistance for D.C. residents in need.

The mayor was supposed to give D.C. SNAP benefits a boost starting Jan. 1. However, multiple D.C. council members told FOX 5 she has not done so and members of the council are now accusing the mayor of illegally blocking funding.

"Take care of your people 'cause you could be in the same predicament," said Stacey Watson, who told FOX 5 she’s now purchasing less to stretch her SNAP benefits through the month.

Watson said she's also receiving less money than she did in the pandemic and dealing with high grocery costs due to inflation.

"It’s just not right," she added. "I think about other people and the senior citizens that get like $50 or something like that. Some people get 10, some people get 16. So they can’t live off of that. After they get like a loaf of bread or maybe a pack of chicken, they can’t get anything else."

SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It's meant to address food insecurity, hunger, and poverty.

The D.C. Council passed a boost to the benefit to help residents after the federal government let enhanced SNAP benefits run out earlier this year.

A little over $39 million was supposed to go toward temporary increases in SNAP benefits for D.C. residents from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30. Council members told FOX 5 the city’s chief financial officer confirmed D.C. has the money. But the mayor has not spent the money on SNAP yet. According to DCist, she cites "budgetary and staffing constraints," as to why.

Last week, Councilmember Janeese Lewis George shared a memo from the D.C. attorney general, making clear the mayor does not have the authority to use that money for something else, without the council’s approval.

A shopper walks through a grocery store in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2022. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

FOX 5 asked the D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson whether the council could also sue.

"Well, I don’t want to say what the council is going to do as a next step, other than that I’m trying to get a meeting with the mayor and a couple of the council members who are directly involved to see if we can resolve this. That would be ideal," Mendelson said. "There have been a number of instances over the past year where there have been some missteps by the executive that have not endured to her benefit, and it doesn’t – it doesn’t lead to good relations with the council."

Mendelson mentioned that even if the mayor changed her stance, the city would not be in a position to dole out those benefits right away.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says one in five D.C. residents used SNAP in Fiscal Year 2022. They also estimated the average benefit to be around $188 a month in 2023.

Search online, and you’ll find the average cost of groceries to be anywhere from $300 to nearly $500 a month.

David Stith told FOX 5 his daughter, who has three children, uses the food stamp program.

"I think she needs to do something to help, help less fortunate people than giving money to that stadium they getting ready to try and build," he said when asked his thoughts on the mayor not acting on SNAP benefit enhancements yet.

FOX 5 did reach out to the mayor’s office on the matter. We’ll be sure to share when we receive a response.