Gov. Tony Evers | Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner

Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill Friday that will limit cell phones in schools, making Wisconsin the 36th state in the nation to do so, and a bill that will make it easier for candidates for office to remove themselves from ballots. 

A Wisconsin Policy Forum report from May found that most school districts already restrict student cellphone usage to common areas, though policies vary widely across the state.  

Under the new law, 2025 Wisconsin Act 42, school districts will have until July 2026 to implement a policy that bans cellphones during instructional times. The policy will need to include exceptions for emergencies, for educational purposes and cases involving student health care, individualized education plans (IEPs) or 504 plans (learning environment accommodations).

Evers said in a statement that the decision about whether to sign the bill weighed heavily on him, especially given his belief that “decisions like this should be made at the local level by local school districts”. However, he said he is “deeply concerned” about how cell phone and social media use are affecting students, including their mental health, school outcomes and social skills. 

“Our kids are struggling today, perhaps now more than ever. It’s really tough to be a kid these days, and we know that cellphones can be a major distraction from learning, a source of bullying, and a barrier to our kids’ important work of just being a kid,” Evers said in a statement. “While I wish the Legislature would have taken a different approach with this legislation, I will never stop fighting for Wisconsin’s kids and working to do what’s best for them, which is why I am signing this bill into law today.”

Evers also pointed to widespread support for cellphone ban policies in his statement. 

Pew Research recently found that 74% of U.S. adults support banning middle and high school students from using cellphones during class — an increase from 68% last fall. A Marquette Law School poll found that 89% of voters support banning cellphones during class periods. 

Evers also takes action on 19 other bills

Evers also signed Assembly Bill 35, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 43, to make it easier for candidates to withdraw themselves from a ballot. 

Under the law, candidates for office in Wisconsin will be able to withdraw their candidacy in a general or primary election and not be included on the ballot if they file a sworn statement. 

The change to Wisconsin law was proposed after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not allowed to remove himself from the presidential ballot in 2024 after he dropped out and endorsed President Donald Trump. State law then said that candidates could only have their names removed if they were dead. 

The new law will allow candidates to remove themselves, but they’ll be responsible for paying the Wisconsin Elections Commission a $1,000 fee. Non-statewide candidates will need to pay $250. 

Under the law, a person could face a Class G felony with a maximum penalty of up to $25,000 and imprisonment for up to 10 years if they intentionally filed a false statement withdrawing a person’s candidacy. 

Evers also signed Senate Bill 309, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 41, which clarifies statute to say that 911 call centers and dispatchers who transfer a caller to the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline are generally immune from civil liability for any outcomes resulting from the transfer. 

“Our 911 dispatchers play a vital role in the safety and security of our state, but they often don’t have the time or resources available to provide the response necessary for somebody experiencing a mental health crisis,” Evers said. “By offering much-needed protection to 911 dispatchers who transfer calls to the 988 Lifeline, this bill allows for a better and safer crisis response by ensuring crisis calls go to the service providers who are trained to provide appropriate care and resources to those who need it most.”

The law specifies that the immunity doesn’t apply if an injury is the result of an act or omission that constitutes gross negligence or willful misconduct by the dispatcher. 

Another bill signed by Evers, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 46, seeks to address the reckless driving issue in Wisconsin by allowing local governments to implement ordinances that will allow officers to immediately impound a vehicle used to drive recklessly and retain the vehicle until all outstanding fees, fines and forfeitures are paid.

Evers said in a statement that the law will “hold bad actors accountable” and help keep roads and communities safe.

“Whether it’s distracted driving, speeding, or erratic and aggressive behaviors, reckless driving puts our kids, families, and communities in harm’s way,” Evers said. “Tackling reckless driving has been a bipartisan goal in recent years, and I’m glad to see this trend has continued this session.” 

Evers also vetoed several bills. 

• AB 5, which would have required school districts respond to material inspections requests within 14 days
• AB 39, which would have required state employees to work in person for 80% of their week, 
• A handful of bills — AB 162, AB 168 and AB 169 — that would have made changes to unemployment and workforce development programs. 
• SB 25, which would have prohibited a court from allowing a complaint to be filed in a John Doe proceeding against a police officer who is involved in a shooting if the district attorney determines there is no basis to prosecute the officer. 
• SB 184, which would have barred local governments from implementing restrictions on a cars and vehicles based on its energy source 

The full list of bills upon which Evers took action can be found here. 

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Boxes of sugary cereal fill a store's shelves on April 16, 2025, in Miami, Florida.  (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Boston ruled Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plan to pause a food assistance program for 42 million people was illegal — but gave the Trump administration until Monday to respond to her finding before she decides on a motion to force the benefits be paid despite the ongoing government shutdown.

At nearly the same time Friday, a Rhode Island federal judge in a similar case brought by cities and nonprofit groups ordered USDA to continue payments and granted a request for a temporary restraining order.

However, experts and a key member of Congress said that some SNAP recipients still may see delays in their benefits because changes in administration from the federal government to states to vendors take time. 

There was also no immediate word from USDA on how it will implement the judicial orders, while the administration sought guidance from the courts.

In a social media post late Friday, President Donald Trump said administration lawyers believed the funds could not legally be paid and that he needed clarification about how to legally distribute SNAP benefits.

In Massachusetts, in a Friday afternoon order, District Court of Massachusetts Judge Indira Talwani said she would continue to take “under advisement” a coalition of Democratic states’ request to force the release of funds from a contingency account holding about $6 billion.

Her ruling came a day before a cutoff of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits to low-income households.

Because Congress is locked in a stalemate over a stopgap spending bill and did not appropriate money for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, administration officials say the program cannot provide federal funds beginning Saturday. In states, SNAP benefits are loaded onto cards on varying dates, but the cutoff would be effective for November benefits.

Talwani, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, called the administration’s conclusion it can’t provide SNAP funding “erroneous,” and said the reserve fund was sufficient for SNAP benefits to flow to states and the vendors that add money to debit-like cards issued to the program’s beneficiaries that are used to purchase groceries. 

The law creating the program mandated that benefits continue, she said.

“Defendants are statutorily mandated to use the previously appropriated SNAP contingency reserve when necessary and also have discretion to use other previously appropriated funds,” Talwani wrote.

Talwani ordered the administration to say by Monday whether it would provide at least partial benefits for November.

Trump seeks clarification

Trump on social media said that he would be happy to see the funding go out and blamed Democrats for the monthlong shutdown.

“I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible,” Trump wrote. “It is already delayed enough due to the Democrats keeping the Government closed through the monthly payment date and, even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out.”

The government filed a brief in the Rhode Island case asking the judge in that case to clarify how his order could legally be carried out.

Earlier Friday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was noncommittal when asked if the department would comply with an order to resume benefits, according to CNN.

Spokespeople for the Department of Justice, which is representing the administration in the case, did not return messages seeking comment Friday.

The 25 states that sued were Massachusetts, California, Arizona, Minnesota, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state, Wisconsin Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The District of Columbia also sued. 

Contingency fund can’t flow in shutdown, USDA chief says

At a press conference with U.S. House Republicans earlier Friday, Rollins said it was “a lie” that the contingency fund could be used to provide benefits.

“There is a contingency fund at USDA, but that contingency fund, by the way, doesn’t even cover, I think, half of the $9.2 billion that would be required for November SNAP,” she said. “But it is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded. It’s called a contingency fund, and by law, a contingency fund can only flow when the underlying fund is flowing.”

The judges authoring Friday’s court orders disagreed with Rollins’ argument, which was also at odds with a shutdown plan her own department published on Sept. 30 before quietly deleting it sometime in October. The plan called for SNAP benefits to continue during a shutdown because the contingency fund existed.

“Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds,” the Sept. 30 plan said.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said benefit payments “will likely be delayed by several days or more” and blamed the situation on the administration’s refusal to spend from the contingency fund.

“The administration has chosen to hold hungry families hostage in their partisan political games,” she said in a statement. “It is cruel. It is shameful. And as federal judges in two states have now affirmed, it is illegal.”

Rhode Island case

In Rhode Island, where the judge granted a temporary restraining order, the advocacy group Democracy Forward, which was among those bringing the suit, praised the move.

“A federal court today granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful effort to halt the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the ongoing government shutdown,” the group said. “The decision ensures that millions of children, seniors, veterans, and families will continue to receive essential food assistance while the case proceeds.”

The judge in that case, John James McConnell Jr., said the administration’s actions violated a key federal administrative law against arbitrary and capricious executive action and federal spending laws “by disregarding Congress’s direction that SNAP must continue operating,” Democracy Forward said.

McConnell also was appointed by Obama.

Delays in benefits likely

Friday’s orders will likely not stop some SNAP benefits from at least being delayed, according to Lauren Kallins, a senior legislative director for state-federal affairs at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Even if the Trump administration immediately complied with McConnell’s order that benefits must be released, the process of moving money from the U.S. Treasury to states to vendors to beneficiaries takes time.

“Under the best of circumstances… it’s not a switch that can be flipped on once USDA decides to release funds,” Kallins, whose organization coordinates and advocates for bipartisan state lawmakers in every state, said.

States generally release SNAP funds to beneficiaries on a staggered basis, meaning that different beneficiaries receive their allotments on different days of the month. 

With the situation unresolved a day before the new benefits month begins, some are certain to see at least delays in benefits, Kallins said.

“For people who get their allotments in the beginning of the month, there’s definitely going to… be a delay here,” she said.

Additionally, if USDA were to release money only from the contingency fund, it could take states time to determine how to distribute prorated benefits.

Congress no closer to resolution

On Capitol Hill, the parties appeared no closer Friday to reaching an agreement as the government shutdown stretched into its second month.

House Republicans continued to blame Democrats for the standstill, urging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to get his caucus behind the House-passed GOP measure to reopen the government at last fiscal year’s spending levels.

“Republicans have done our part to end the Democrat shutdown, and now it’s time for Democrats to do theirs,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday morning. 

“The path forward is simple — please, please, every American who is concerned about this, every American that is feeling the harm, you should call the Senate Democrats and tell them to stop the nonsense, echo the voices of the unions, of the airlines, of hardworking people everywhere, and tell them to stop doing this and open the government.”

Democrats have voted against the GOP measure, saying congressional Republicans must negotiate an extension of tax subsidies for those who buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. 

Those subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, leaving millions to see their premiums skyrocket when they get premium notices beginning Saturday.

Volunteers from No Limits Outreach Ministries in Hyattsville, Maryland, and the Capital Area Food Bank prepare for distribution on Oct. 28, 2025 to furloughed federal workers affected by the government shutdown. People with government employment ID began lining up hours ahead of time. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — By Saturday, millions of Americans are expected to face a drastic spike in health care premium costs during open enrollment, though a hunger crisis may have been temporarily averted, both tied to the ongoing government shutdown.

A federal judge in Massachusetts Friday afternoon found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture acted unlawfully in deciding to withhold billions in emergency funding for 42 million people who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, amid a government shutdown.

But while the ruling does not order USDA to immediately tap into its roughly $6 billion contingency fund, a separate ruling from a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the agency to continue the payments after a coalition of religious and advocacy groups sued.

Prior to both rulings, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins defended USDA’s decision to not use the contingency fund during a Friday press conference at the U.S. Capitol with House Speaker Mike Johnson on day 31 of the government shutdown. 

“We are here today because SNAP benefits run dry tomorrow, so the truth has finally revealed itself, hasn’t it?” Rollins said. “Democrats’ support for programs like SNAP is now reduced to cynical control over people’s lives.”

It was not yet clear midday Friday how the two court rulings would be carried out by the administration.

The move to cut off SNAP would leave millions hungry, nearly 40% of them children, and is an effort by the Trump administration to put pressure on Senate Democrats to accept the House-passed GOP stopgap spending bill to fund the government until Nov. 21. 

Senate Democrats have held out demanding action on tax credits that will expire at the end of the year for people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, hugely driving up costs. 

They have tried to spark negotiations, but Republicans have maintained that talks on health care subsidies will only begin after the government is funded. 

Flight delays, filibuster fate 

As the government shutdown continues, millions of federal workers are furloughed, or have continued to work without pay, including air traffic controllers. 

Flight delays and cancellations are starting to mount, with 3,739 delays within, into or out of the United States and 364 cancellations within the United States by midday Friday, according to the FlightAware delays tracker.

Another shutdown complication emerged when President Donald Trump, who has spent most of the week abroad in Asia meeting with foreign leaders over trade and tariff talks, Thursday night urged Republicans to eliminate the Senate filibuster, which requires a 60-vote threshold. 

“Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Trump wrote on his social media platform. Senate Republicans have been lukewarm on the idea, since Democrats then could do the same if they regain control of the chamber now held by the GOP with 53 seats.

Lacking 60 votes, the Senate has failed 13 times to pass the House-passed stopgap spending measure and left Capitol Hill Thursday night. Democrat Sen. Jacky Rosen from Nevada tried to keep the Senate in session, but was overruled by Republicans. 

Another critical deadline approaching Friday was pay for active duty military members. Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration would shuffle funds to ensure pay, but did not detail those plans. According to Axios, the Defense Department pulled billions from several accounts to ensure the troops could be paid. 

Rollins defends USDA refusal to pay benefits

Congress failed to fund SNAP and nearly every other discretionary federal program for the 2026 fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

In order to receive SNAP benefits, a household’s gross monthly income must be at or below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines. A family of four would receive a SNAP maximum monthly allotment of $994, according to USDA.

Rollins sought to justify her agency’s refusal to shuffle the contingency funds to pay for SNAP, saying that money “is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded,” and “by law, a contingency fund can only flow when the underlying fund is flowing.” 

The Agriculture secretary said that “even if it could flow, it doesn’t even cover half of the month of November.” 

USDA said in a memo earlier in October that it would not tap into the contingency fund to keep the program afloat in November, despite its since-deleted Sept. 30 shutdown plan saying it would tap into this reserve. 

The memo said the contingency fund “is a source of funds for contingencies, such as the Disaster SNAP program, which provides food purchasing benefits for individuals in disaster areas, including natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, that can come on quickly and without notice.” 

Democrats have objected. Friday’s decision from a federal judge in Boston stems from a lawsuit brought by 25 states and the District of Columbia against the Trump administration to force USDA to use the contingency fund. 

USDA secretary recounts conversation with waiter

At the Capitol press conference, Rollins also recalled a recent encounter she had at a Louisiana restaurant with a “wonderful” waiter named Joe, who she said took on that job after being furloughed as a federal government employee due to the shutdown. 

“He didn’t know who I was. And I said, ‘Well, Joe, I can appreciate that. You know, I’m sort of in that world as well.’ And I said, ‘Where do you work?’ And he said, ‘Well, I work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in their New Orleans office as part of the financial team.'”

Rollins said that encounter “just really brought home for me … to echo what Mike (Johnson) said, just thanking so many thousands of federal workers who are showing up, who are still doing their job, who aren’t getting paid, those that are now concerned about putting food on the table and making their mortgages and paying their rent.” 

Rollins, along with the rest of the president’s Cabinet, is still getting paid.

Health premiums skyrocket

As open enrollment begins Saturday, those enrollees in the Affordable Care Act marketplace who currently receive a tax credit are likely to see their monthly premium payments more than double to about 114% on average, according to an analysis by KFF. 

For the last month, Democrats have warned of this, as the tax credits that help pay for individual health insurance are set to expire at the end of the year. 

The top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, said in a statement that many families will see an increase in their premiums on Nov. 1.

“The sticker shock many families will face when they shop for health coverage is unacceptable, and it’s why Congress must act,” Pallone said.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that if Congress does not extend the tax credits, insurers expect healthy, younger people to drop their marketplace coverage plans, which will lead to increased premium costs. 

Anxiety over WIC program

Meanwhile, USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, a program separate from SNAP, got a $300 million infusion from the agency, using tariff revenue, to keep the program running through October. 

The program provides nearly 7 million women, infants and children with healthy foods, breastfeeding support, nutrition education and other resources. 

Advocates are calling on the administration to supply additional emergency funds for WIC. 

Led by the National WIC Association, more than three dozen national organizations signed on to an Oct. 24 letter to the White House urging the administration to provide an additional $300 million in emergency funding. 

Head Start affected

The consequences of the shutdown are also hitting Head Start — a federal program that provides early childhood education, nutritious meals, health screenings and other support services to low-income families and served more than 790,000 children in the 2023-2024 program year. 

The National Head Start Association estimates that 140 programs across 41 states and Puerto Rico serving more than 65,000 children will not receive their operational funding if the shutdown continues past Nov. 1 — a reality that appears certain.

Six of those programs serving more than 6,500 children did not receive this funding on Oct. 1 and have had to look to outside resources and local funds to keep their programs afloat. 

SNAP, WIC and Native communities 

American Indian and Alaska Native communities are also scrambling to fill the anticipated gaps in food security and assistance due to funding uncertainties for SNAP and WIC. 

Advocates and U.S. senators across the aisle say these funding uncertainties for the key federal nutrition programs are putting particular pressure on Native communities. 

At an Oct. 29 Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on the shutdown’s impacts on tribal communities, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith said she is hearing from tribal nations in her state about people switching from SNAP to the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, or FDPIR, a separate USDA initiative.

FDPIR is an alternative to SNAP and, per USDA, provides foods “to income-eligible households living on Indian reservations, and to American Indian households residing in approved areas near reservations and in Oklahoma.” 

A volunteer stocks produce at the Independence Food Basket, a food pantry operated by the Community Access Center in Independence, Kan. Like other food pantries across the country, the organization has been providing food assistance to more families even before a disruption to the federal food stamp program. (Photo by Kevin Hardy/Stateline)

INDEPENDENCE, Kan. — Just a few years ago, the Community Access Center’s food pantry here served up to 250 families per month. But that figure has skyrocketed as the price of groceries has pinched more and more families.

Now, the small food pantry serves about 450 families a month in this community of about 8,500 people. Serving that growing number has become increasingly difficult with the high cost of food, cuts in federal aid — and an unprecedented disruption in the nation’s largest food assistance program looming.

Chris Mitchell, who leads the nonprofit that operates the Independence Food Basket and provides other services, said the amount the organization spends on food to supplement donated items increased from $1,700 per month in 2018 to $4,000 per month now.

“And that’s getting it from the food bank without taxes,” he said.

Like other providers across the country, the Independence Food Basket is bracing for a spike in demand when an estimated 42 million people are expected to lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP. Monthly benefits will not be provided beginning Saturday because of the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The unparalleled stress of a SNAP disruption on food pantries and the food banks that collect, warehouse and distribute food comes at a time when they were already stretched thin. High grocery prices have pushed more Americans to look to food banks for help. But organizations providing food relief have lost more than $1 billion in federal aid and are bracing for the impacts of legislation that will permanently limit the reach of SNAP.

Food banks now are asking local governments and donors to step in as they prepare for long lines. Many operations have increased orders ahead of the expected SNAP chaos, though some food pantries say they may have to ration food if supplies dwindle too quickly.

“You’d have to be living under a rock somewhere to not know that the prices of groceries went up and stayed up,” Mitchell said. “Now, you’re going to take away the means that people in poverty can afford food.”

The rising price of food has driven up not just visits to pantries, but also costs for the charitable food system in recent years.

Social service providers also are bracing for the impact of permanent changes to food stamps and other social services enacted in President Donald Trump’s major tax and spending law signed in July. The first in a wave of cutbacks to SNAP ended exemptions from work requirements for older adults, homeless people, veterans and some rural residents, likely pushing millions out of the food stamp program.

The administration also has pulled direct aid to food banks.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in March nixed more than $1 billion from two programs that helped food banks and school meal programs buy local foods including fruits, vegetables and proteins.

Also this spring, the administration abruptly cut $500 million from a program that sends domestically produced meat, dairy, eggs and produce to food banks. The items that were delivered through The Emergency Food Assistance Program were some of the healthiest, most expensive items organizations distribute, ProPublica reported.

In Missouri alone, that move canceled 124 scheduled deliveries to food banks, including 146,400 pounds of cheese, 433,070 pounds of canned and frozen chicken and 1.2 million eggs.

“Food banks have been operating on fumes since the pandemic,” said Gina Plata-Nino, interim SNAP director at the Food Research & Action Center, a national nonprofit working to address poverty-related hunger. “As much as we love the food banks and the superhero work that they’re doing, they can only do so much.”

Already rising demand

Plata-Nino said food banks and food pantries were intended as emergency food aid, but have become “a way of life” for many who struggle to afford groceries.

A disruption in SNAP benefits will cause millions to make impossible decisions about how to stretch their limited dollars, Plata-Nino said. She noted that the majority of SNAP recipients make less than $1,100 per month. (The liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates the average SNAP benefit this fiscal year is about $188 per month per person.)

“People are already making really difficult choices,” she said, “and I hate to call it a choice, because it’s not a choice when you don’t have one.”

In Texas, the San Antonio Food Bank has been responding to a surge in need from furloughed federal workers. With major Defense Department operations across the area, San Antonio is home to the largest number of federal employees in Texas.

Eric Cooper, the food bank’s president and chief executive officer, estimates it will serve about 50,000 more people who have gone without paychecks this month. Each year, the food bank serves about 577,000 people across 29 counties.

He recalled one furloughed U.S. Social Security Administration employee who recently visited for the first time. Though she weathered previous shutdowns, she now takes care of her grandchildren.

“She’s like, ‘Hey, I showed up to get food because I don’t know if I’m going to get paid, and I can’t let my grandbabies go hungry,’” Cooper said.

Given the disruption to SNAP, Cooper said the food bank has been gearing up to not only increase inventory but also manage limited supplies and heightened emotions among the public.

“Should the demand start to outpace our supply, we will start to ration,” he said. “Rather than giving a week’s worth of food or two weeks’ worth of food, we’re going to be giving less.”

Generally, the need for free food spikes during times of natural disasters or recessions, said Michelle Ness, executive director of PRISM, a nonprofit providing housing and food assistance in suburban Minneapolis.

But Minnesota food shelves, known as food pantries in other parts of the country, have seen a 150% increase in visits since the pandemic, she said.

“This is during nonemergency times, nondisaster times — needs are going way up,” she said. “Right now, food shelves are at just about the max capacity we can handle.”

To meet the projected increase in demand because of the SNAP disruption, Ness said her organization’s food shelf is considering launching a sort of express lane that would allow people to quickly pick up prepackaged boxes of food. She hopes donors will increase their giving to avoid rationing food.

“If anything, I would like to be able to give out more food, because people will have greater needs without getting SNAP benefits,” she said. “That’s a lot of food that they’re not going to have to fill their refrigerator and cupboards.”

A daily necessity

While nonprofits happily take donated food items, much of the stock is purchased. And that doesn’t come cheap — even with discounts for purchasing foods in bulk from nonprofit food banks.

The Food Group, a Minneapolis food bank that supplies PRISM and other operators, has had to raise its prices and cut back on certain expensive items — including eggs, said Executive Director Sophia Lenarz-Coy.

In the past year, The Food Group has raised its wholesale prices of spaghetti by 26%. Jasmine rice has gone up 6%, and dry potatoes have increased 11%. Between 2022 and 2025, a case of frozen ground beef has increased from just under $50 to $63.08 — a 28% spike. Cases of margarine have risen 39% over that time, and diced tomatoes have gone up 23%.

“I think it’s really hard to overstate just how grocery prices have changed in the last three years,” said Lenarz-Coy.

While higher earners can make adjustments in their monthly budgets, she noted that food is often the only flexible item in lower-income household budgets.

“Housing costs, how much you need to pay for transportation or medical costs or day care — those are all fixed costs,” she said. “The place where people can flex is on food, but those flexes just don’t get you as much as they used to.”

Back in southeast Kansas, Mitchell, of the Community Access Center, has come to appreciate the urgency of hunger.

Mitchell previously worked in homeless services. Oftentimes, people can get by temporarily staying with friends and families, but food is a constant, daily need, he noted.

“It’s like going without liquid,” he said. “You just don’t last very long without it. And that’s probably what hurts me the most about this cutoff.”

The looming SNAP disruption has him bracing for panic among those who rely on the pantry.

The per capita annual income in Independence is just under $30,000, and about a quarter of all children live in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

To meet surging demand, Mitchell is considering further limiting the pantry’s already rationed offerings, whether families have one person or six in the household.

“That kills my heart,” he said. “But that’s so everybody gets some. … I’ve got this many people, and I’ve got to make sure that I can put something in each hand.”

Located inside a beige cinderblock building, the one-room food pantry is set up like a grocery store, with freezers for meats, refrigerators for fresh veggies and shopping carts for browsing.

Mitchell is proud to offer that kind of choice for people, which makes the process more dignified and reduces the likelihood that food goes to waste.

But a rush of visits next week — and concerns about hoarding and public safety — may force the nonprofit to reinstate its pandemic-era practice of handing out prepackaged boxes outdoors.

“It feels like going backwards,” Mitchell said.

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.

A protester holds a photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia as demonstrators gather to protest against the deportation of immigrants to El Salvador outside the Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the United Nations on April 24, 2025 in New York City.  (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Maryland on Friday approved the transfer of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration detention in Pennsylvania to Nashville, Tennessee, for a multi-day hearing in his criminal case brought by the Trump administration after an erroneous deportation to El Salvador. 

The Trump administration previously planned as soon as Friday to again deport Abrego Garcia, this time to the West African country of Liberia. Abrego Garcia has protections from deportation to his home country of El Salvador after an immigration judge in 2019 feared he would face violence if removed there. 

Maryland District Judge Paula Xinis will allow for the transfer for his multi-day hearing on Nov. 4 and 5, according to court documents. 

Xinis, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, is overseeing Abrego Garcia’s challenge to his detention, which is separate from the criminal case. His attorneys argue the Trump administration is keeping Abrego Garcia in detention to punish him, rather than seeking deportation. 

Abrego Garcia has agreed to be removed to Costa Rica, which has offered to accept him as a refugee. The Trump administration also has floated several other African countries as deportation destinations for Abrego Garcia: Ghana, Eswatini and Uganda.

Deportation, criminal charges

The Trump administration in March erroneously deported Abrego Garcia, a longtime Maryland resident, to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador — a move that thrust a spotlight on the realities of the president’s immigration crackdown. 

Facing mounting pressures from various courts that ordered Abrego Garcia’s return, the Trump administration brought him back in June to face criminal charges lodged against him by the Justice Department that stemmed from a traffic stop in 2022. 

Those charges, to which Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty, accuse him of smuggling migrants across the country. 

The federal judge overseeing Abrego Garcia’s criminal trial in Nashville, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, this week filed an order warning Trump administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, they could face sanctions if they continue to make inflammatory remarks about Abrego Garcia. 

Members of the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump, have without evidence repeatedly labeled Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 gang member. 

Tennessee hearing

The multi-day hearing for Abrego Garcia in Tennessee comes after Crenshaw earlier this month found there was a “likelihood” that the DOJ indictment against Abrego Garcia was vindictive. Obama also nominated Crenshaw.

Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland with his wife and their three children when he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents earlier this year and notified that there had been a change in his status. Because of the deportation protections, Abrego Garcia was required to check in with ICE each year.

American Family Children's Hospital in Madison. An annual report from the Wisconsin Hospital Association says hospitals in the state are doing better financially, but face uncertainty. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

Uncompensated health care at Wisconsin hospitals rose more then 30% in 2024 from the year before, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Hospital Association.

People without health insurance or regular health providers are using emergency rooms more, the report also finds.

The association annually assesses the state of Wisconsin hospitals, including their finances, utilization and staffing. The 2024 report was released Thursday.

“We are seeing a modest improvement in hospital financials across the state,” said Kyle O’Brien, president of the Wisconsin Hospital Association, in an interview. Nevertheless, he added, “there’s a lot of uncertainty in the health care market right now.”

While the state’s hospitals were doing better in 2024 than in the previous two years, 40 hospitals had a negative operating margin, O’Brien said, and many hospitals across the state where margins were positive, but narrow.

Uncompensated care includes charity care — provided by the hospital with the full knowledge that the cost won’t be covered — as well as bad debt: care for which the hospital expected to be paid but wasn’t.

In 2024, uncompensated care in both categories added up to $1.77 billion — a 30.5% increase over the 1.36 billion in uncompensated care in 2023.

O’Brien said several factors are responsible for that increase. One of those is generally higher deductibles on health insurance plans, requiring patients to spend more out of pocket before their insurance coverage kicks in.

“If that patient can’t pay for that higher out-of-pocket [expense], hospitals are the ones that either have to try to collect those dollars, or they are the ones that provide relief through charity care, bad debt policies, or things like that,” O’Brien said.

For hospitals, another top concern is how much Medicaid pays to cover the cost of care.

State budgets over the last decade have been increasing Medicaid hospital payments, O’Brien said, with the 2025-27 budget having the largest increases to date. Even so, he said, hospital Medicaid reimbursements fall short of fully covering the cost of the care that Medicaid is supposed to cover.

Decisions by health insurance to deny coverage are a source of “general consternation” for hospitals, O’Brien said — both with group health insurance policies but also for Medicare Advantage policies. Medicare Advantage policies are sold to people eligible for the federal Medicare program but are instead provided by private insurance companies.

O’Brien said the hospital association is also concerned about projected increases in people without health insurance as a result of higher premiums paid by people who buy their own insurance at the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov, created under the Affordable Care Act.

Enhanced subsidies for HealthCare.gov policies enacted in 2021 will expire at the end of this year unless they are renewed. The subsidies are provided in the form of federal income tax credits for consumers who purchase insurance through HealthCare.gov

This week the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance released projected rates for 2026 that reflected the loss of those enhanced subsidies.

Those higher costs have prompted widespread predictions that, after years in which enrollment in the marketplace plans has set new records, enrollment will drop off and more people with go without health insurance instead.

“We are certainly concerned anytime there’s a potential that somebody might lose coverage,” O’Brien said. Federal law requires hospitals to treat patients whether or not they are able to pay.

“We have been advocating with the congressional delegation to reauthorize those enhanced premium tax credits,” O’Brien said. He said members of Congress have been focused on “issues that are playing out right now [that] may be even bigger than hospital-related issues, but I think that they understand our concerns.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Idaho resident Lynlee Lord said she used nutrition assistance programs that helped ease some of the stress she was dealing with while pregnant in the aftermath of her partner’s death. Food insecurity can bring heightened risks of preeclampsia, preterm birth and NICU admission, research shows. (Courtesy of Lynlee Lord)

Millions nationwide could be cut off from access to government food assistance Saturday due to the shutdown, including those who are pregnant or have babies and young children.

That possibility brings back a lot of difficult memories for Lynlee Lord, a mom of three in rural Idaho. In 2014, when Lord was 24, her partner died by suicide. She was 11 weeks pregnant with his daughter and already had a 2-year-old son.

“I went from building my life with my best friend to not having anything, and having to move into income-based apartments,” Lord said.

She was also going to cosmetology school full-time in Boise, Idaho, nearly an hour away from where she lived, spending more than 12 hours away from home each day. She worked on her dad’s ranch and cleaned houses to earn gas money. She tried to keep her stress levels down, but the one thing she didn’t worry about was food, because she had benefits from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

“It took a lot of pressure off of me,” she said.

Many studies have shown adequate nutrition is essential for a developing fetus, and a January study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found food insecurity in pregnancy is associated with medical complications. The researchers defined food insecurity as being worried about running out of food before there’s money for more. Risks include preeclampsia, preterm birth and NICU admission. 

Those who did not have access to food assistance had the highest risk of complications, according to the January study. The increased rate was alleviated by food assistance. 

It’s unclear how many pregnant people use SNAP benefits on average, but the program helped feed 42 million Americans in 22 million households in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the USDA. A separate supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children — known as WIC — is often used simultaneously by participants. The federal government temporarily shored up WIC through October and promised more money, but whether the funding will last through November remains uncertain as the shutdown wears on.

The Trump administration has so far declined to use emergency funds to keep SNAP solvent while the government shutdown continues. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he won’t consider a Democrat-led standalone funding bill to keep the program going during the shutdown.

Though officials in some states are making moves to boost food assistance temporarily, others — including in Indiana and Tennessee — have refused to step in.

Lord doesn’t need food assistance anymore, but about 130,000 Idahoans still do and are set to lose their benefits starting on Saturday, Nov. 1. The Women, Infants and Children program, which helps families afford formula and other supplemental foods, could also soon run out of funds in certain states, including Idaho, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

Instability and hard choices

Gestational diabetes — one of the more severe complications that can result from food insecurity — affects up to 10% of all pregnancies on average. The condition occurs when the placenta produces hormones that decrease insulin sensitivity, creating unstable blood sugars that necessitate a more strictly controlled diet and potentially the use of insulin or other medication to keep glucose levels in a normal range. Most cases are diagnosed in the third trimester, when the amount of insulin needed to keep blood sugars normal is at its peak.

Blood sugar can also be affected by stress, poor sleep, irregular meals and other physiological factors. If left untreated, or if glucose remains unstable through the last trimester of pregnancy, it can cause the fetus to grow too quickly, increasing the risk of stillbirth and other complications, like high blood pressure and low blood sugars in the baby after delivery.

Dr. Chloe Zera, chair of the Health Policy and Advocacy Committee for the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, specializes in gestational diabetes and said she saw a patient on Tuesday who was worried about losing her SNAP benefits.

“Adding that on top of what is already a stressful diagnosis is incredibly challenging for people,” Zera said. “There’s so much guilt and shame and blame that goes along with gestational diabetes and diabetes in general in pregnancy.”

People with gestational diabetes who already have children and who are food insecure will also most often feed their children before themselves, Zera added.

“They’re going to make really hard choices that mean they have even less control over their nutrition,” she said.

Dr. Andrea Shields, an OB-GYN and maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the University of Connecticut, said uncontrolled gestational diabetes can cause low blood sugar in babies after delivery, which has been linked to neurodevelopmental issues later in life. If the SNAP benefits stop, she said, more people will have to get creative about finding ways to help pregnant patients without assistance from the federal government.

“This is a perfect example of why we pay taxes and why we want to help society in general, because we don’t need to create generational issues, which this will, because it impacts the unborn fetus,” Shields said.

Lord said if she was in the same situation today that she was 10 years ago, she might have had to consider an option that never crossed her mind at the time — an abortion. Even though it was her partner’s only child, and abortion is now banned in Idaho, Lord said she may have needed to find a way to end the pregnancy out of necessity, especially considering the costs of rent, child care, food and other expenses today.

“I would’ve probably picked my child that was living,” she said. “It was really scary for me back then, and I can’t even imagine in today’s world if that happened.”

UPDATE: This story was updated to include more information about WIC on Friday, Oct. 31. 

Democratic U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, accompanied by Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, points to a poster depicting rising medical costs if Congress allows the Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

States are preparing for the possibility of a rapid shift in the cost of Obamacare health plans, depending on whether Congress extends the subsidies that are at the center of the federal government shutdown.

No matter what Congress does, the amount insurers charge for coverage sold on the marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act will increase by an average of 26% in 2026, according to KFF, a health research nonprofit. In the 30 states that use the federal Healthcare.gov, premiums will rise by an average of 30%. In the states that run their own marketplaces, the average increase will be about 17%.

But 22 million of the 24 million people who are enrolled in marketplace plans receive a tax credit. If Congress extends the credits, the amount subsidized enrollees pay each month won’t significantly change, even as insurers charge more.

If Congress doesn’t act, people with incomes below 400% of the federal poverty level will receive less financial help, while people making more than that amount will not get any help at all. As a result, according to KFF, monthly premium payments for all enrollees will increase by an average of about 114%,

For a month, Republicans and Democrats have been in a stalemate over whether to extend these subsidies, leading to a government shutdown. The situation has created ambiguity for the states that run their own marketplaces, as many of them move this weekend into the open enrollment period for people to purchase health plans.

Some states, such as Maryland, are preparing for a scenario in which they would either extend state-funded subsidies to enrollees to help them keep their plans, or rapidly apply federal subsidies if Congress extends them.

“It’s going to vary state by state based on their technological abilities and if they need to do anything with their rates,” Michele Eberle, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, said in a phone interview.

Eberle said Maryland created a state subsidy program to make up for some of the federal subsidies that are in limbo. She said that if Congress extends the subsidies, enacting changes for the state’s 240,000 marketplace enrollees could take around three weeks.

Maryland would have to ask health insurers to resubmit their rates. The state also might have to send notices to enrollees to give them the opportunity to change their choice of plan, according to Eberle.

“We would change [enrollees’] premiums. We would have to back out the state subsidy [that we] put in, if there’s a new rate, put the new rates in, recalculate the new premium tax credit and apply that,” Eberle said.

In California, where two million people are enrolled in Covered California, residents are already reeling from sticker shock after seeing next year’s premiums on the state’s website.

“People are very stressed about what to do and what their options are with these cost changes,” Jessica Altman, executive director of California’s marketplace, said in an interview. “At the same time, we are very much ready, and we’ll move any mountain that we can possibly move if Congress does act.”

Altman said the state will automatically recalculate what enrollees would pay for their plans if Congress extends the credits, and is prepared for people to want to change their plans if federal lawmakers act.

“We’re also very much going to want to inform our consumers and give them the opportunity to make a different choice,” she said.

Altman said notifying enrollees’ of changes should take a few weeks, but changing information in the state’s system should only take about a week.

“Even when the enhanced tax credits passed the first time, it was in the middle of the year, in the spring,” Altman said.

“All the state exchanges had to build that, and it was done in a matter of weeks, right? So, that’s who we are, and that’s how we’re thinking about this challenge.”

Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at schatlani@stateline.org

Medications are stored on shelves at a pharmacy in Los Angeles. States have gotten creative in trying to lower patients’ prescription drug copays by targeting different parts of the drug supply chain. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

In the absence of much federal action, states have enacted dozens of laws this year to lower prescription drug costs for their residents — and many more are considering following suit.

States cannot lower drug prices directly, but they can go after different parts of the drug supply chain to try to lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs and reduce excessive spending in state-run health plans.

Nearly two-thirds of the new state laws are aimed at pharmacy benefit managers — the drug middlemen who negotiate deals among the manufacturers that make the drugs, the insurers that allow the drugs to be prescribed, and the pharmacies that sell them.

Several states are considering drug affordability review boards. Others have passed laws to hold manufacturers and PBMs to higher transparency standards.

“So a lot of states went into looking at drug costs — trying to understand and follow the dollar,” said Maureen Hensley-Quinn, a senior program director at the National Academy for State Health Policy, a nonpartisan group that works on health policy issues. “Is it the price that manufacturers are setting? Is it the supply chain where there are different entities?”

Advocates of these laws say it’s up to states to take the lead as the federal government lags in compelling drug companies and insurers to lower prices for patients. But critics say some state interventions could lead to local pharmacies shuttering and may stifle innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, leading to fewer new drugs.

Laws targeting PBMs are wide-ranging in scope, requiring PBMs to pass discounts on to consumers or to be more transparent in their drug purchasing activities. Some states have created drug affordability review boards to assess manufacturers’ prices. Some laws aim to place copay caps on critical medications like insulin.

So far this year, at least 31 states have enacted nearly 70 laws designed to lower drug costs, according to a state drug affordability law tracker from the National Academy for State Health Policy.

“States have no leverage, really, to put pressure on manufacturers to lower their prices, and that’s why I think most of the legislation at the state level has been on the intermediaries, the supply chain,” said Geoffrey Joyce, chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Economics at the University of Southern California.

Those interventions can go a long way in trying to reduce patients’ expenses, he said.

“The concern [is] about, well, ‘States really can’t lower drug prices, per se,’ but they can,” Joyce said. “I think there’s been evidence.”

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in October signed legislation to cap the cost of insulin for people covered by state-regulated health plans, including the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, private health plans and its Medicaid program. The state also plans to start offering its own generic version of insulin, costing just $11 a pen, in January.

Colorado’s drug affordability review board capped the cost of a widely used rheumatoid arthritis medication.

And Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore signed a law in May to expand the authority of the state’s drug affordability review board to lower prescription drug prices for all residents, not just state employees.

Pointing fingers

The federal government has taken some steps to lower prescription drug prices. The Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden administration created annual caps on out-of-pocket drug costs and capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for patients with Medicare, the health care program that primarily serves people over 65. The law also gave the federal government more power to negotiate drug prices for Medicare patients.

President Donald Trump has promised to slash drug prices by percentages that some experts say are mathematically impossible. He threatened tariffs on manufacturers that import their drugs if they didn’t lower their prices, which led to a deal with biopharmaceutical company Pfizer. And in May, he signed an executive order designed to ensure the U.S. government can secure drugs at prices on par with other nations.

Kush Desai, a spokesperson for the White House, said in a statement that the Trump administration’s website, TrumpRx, which hasn’t yet launched, will lower drug costs by allowing people to purchase drugs directly from the manufacturer.

But some states are going further.

In October, Colorado became the first state to cap the price of a prescription drug for all consumers. Starting in 2027, new insurers and patients will pay no more than $31,000 a year for Enbrel, a drug that treats rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases — a sharp decrease from the average insurance payment of $53,049 in 2023. Nearly 2,600 Coloradans used Enbrel in 2022, according to state research.

Colorado Democratic state Sen. Julie Gonzales, who sponsored the bill creating the state’s drug oversight board, said states have to deal with a lot of competing interests in the drug supply chain. When it comes to establishing who is setting high drug prices, she said, “everyone is pointing the finger at everyone else.”

It took four years from the law’s passage to set up the board and approve its first payment limit because there were so many special interests involved, she said. “We had to overcome a tremendous amount of angst and fear.”

Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington also have prescription drug affordability boards. New Hampshire created a board but dissolved it in July because of budget cuts.

In California, Newsom signed a bill this year to cap the consumer copay of insulin at $35 per month for all state-regulated health plans, after vetoing similar legislation in 2023. More than two dozen other states had already opted to cap insulin for state health plans. He also signed a PBM regulation bill that, among other provisions, requires pharmacy benefit managers to pass drug discounts on to payers and patients.

California Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who sponsored the PBM and insulin bills, said states have the power to lower patients’ out-of-pocket expenses, even if they can’t force manufacturers to lower drug prices.

“The federal government right now is a disaster zone when it comes to health care,” Wiener said. “That’s why it’s more important for the states to step up.”

Other states such as Illinois, Iowa and Louisiana enacted similar PBM laws this year, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy.

A complicated system

The system for developing, selling and distributing prescription drugs is complex.

Pharmaceutical companies determine the initial costs of drugs, but are often accused of setting prices too high. Pharmacy benefit managers say they exist to negotiate lower drug prices, but are often accused of pocketing discounts or engaging in predatory practices. Meanwhile, health insurers pay for the drugs and decide what copays patients may end up with, and are often accused of not reimbursing enough.

Experts note that three pharmacy benefit management companies — CVS Health, Cigna and United Health Group — dominate the PBM industry, which adds to concerns about their market power.

“There’s also some truth to the fact that this industry is very concentrated, and there’s not a lot of transparency around how much money they’re making and how they make their money, and if that’s being shared back with plans and with consumers,” said Pragya Kakani, a health economist specializing in drug policy at the Weill Cornell Medical College.

The pharmaceutical industry typically opposes drug affordability boards.

In Colorado, Amgen Inc., the manufacturer of Enbrel, sued the state in 2024 over its drug affordability review board, alleging that a price cap would cause economic harm to the company. A federal district court dismissed the challenge in March.

“Instead of fixing the root causes of patient affordability concerns, the board has rushed into a reckless experiment,” Reid Porter, senior director of state public affairs for PhRMA, a group that represents pharmaceutical companies, wrote in an email statement in regard to the board’s upper payment limit. “Colorado is risking patient access and jeopardizing the development of new medicines.”

Porter argued that PBMs and health insurers, not drugmakers, drive high costs.

But PBMs say their negotiations lower costs.

“Big Pharma sets the price — and the price is the problem when it comes to Americans facing difficulty affording their prescription drugs,” Mike Baldyga, a spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents pharmacy benefit managers, wrote in an email statement. “PBMs are the only entity in the drug supply chain that lower prescription drug costs on behalf of patients, and there is no correlation between the rebates they negotiate and list prices.”

Hensley-Quinn, of the National Academy for State Health Policy, noted the challenge of making drugs affordable and accessible.

“There is no silver bullet for lowering drug costs,” Hensley-Quinn said. “You have to balance being able to innovate and making sure that drugs are affordable so that what you have just created, which is life-changing, actually gets to the people that need it.”

But this challenge is in some ways expected and more evidence that states must take action, said Priya Telang, communications manager at the nonprofit advocacy group Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.

“Manufacturers point the finger at PBMs, and PBMs point the finger at insurers. And so it’s really hard to get a sense of who the actual bad players are all at the same time,” she said.

“And so that’s why it’s critical for affordability boards to exist, because they get to see the data, they get to see behind closed doors what the root causes are and really work to bring affordability to consumers.”

Drug affordability boards

When Mary Fowler Simmons, 54, was diagnosed with an advanced cancer three years ago, she had to give up her steady job as a state government worker in Virginia to go through months of expensive and painful treatment. Fowler Simmons survived and is cancer-free today, but is still reeling financially.

Fowler Simmons told Stateline that after being saddled with a hospital bill totaling over $323,000 and depleting her savings, she and her husband continue to pay around $300 a month — after insurance — for prescription medications to maintain her health.

Fowler Simmons, who also has Type 2 diabetes, says she wants her state and federal lawmakers to recognize that some Americans are having to choose between paying for their next meal or their necessary prescription drugs.

“They need to have more compassion for people. We’re not in the position that we are making millions, that we can afford this. We’re working-class people,” Fowler Simmons said. “I need them to actually consider what they are doing to the American people and just have affordable prescription drugs available.”

Otto Wachsmann, a Republican in the Virginia House of Delegates and a pharmacist, said that he doesn’t think there’s enough evidence yet that prescription drug affordability review boards work.

He said if states set upper payment limits on drugs, that doesn’t mean a pharmaceutical company would necessarily lower the cost. Rather, he says, pharmacies may just get reimbursed even less than the cost of the drug. This year Virginia lawmakers tried to create a drug affordability review board.

“There’s nothing to prevent the board from saying we’re only going to reimburse $100 for this prescription, although those pharmacies may have to pay $120 for the drug,” Wachsmann said in an interview.

He added that if review boards target expensive and rare drugs for which to set upper payment limits, they could stifle innovation.

“If those manufacturers think that those are the type of drugs that are going to get hit by these boards and they realize they’ll never get their investment back, they’re not going to develop those drugs anymore,” Wachsmann said.

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill this year that would have created a drug affordability board in the state, saying in a statement, “This approach could limit access to treatments and hinder medical innovation, especially for life-threatening or rare diseases.”

Wachsmann had voted against the board. Instead, he says it’s better to target PBMs, because he said they are engaging in predatory practices that freeze out small pharmacies and leave consumers with nowhere to go.

Neighboring Maryland created the nation’s first drug affordability board in 2019; it got a boost of resources and revved up activities in 2023.

“It will not hurt pharmacists. It will help everybody except Big Pharma,” said Vincent DeMarco, president of health care advocacy group Maryland Health Care for All, in speaking about the state’s drug affordability review board.

The original bill creating the board only authorized the board to create upper payment limits for drugs purchased by states and local governments in Maryland. But this year, Moore signed a law to expand the authority of the board to create upper payment limits for everyone, except patients on health plans regulated by the federal government.

DeMarco said he’s hoping the board will move to create limits on two popular drugs prescribed for Type 2 diabetes, Jardiance and Farxiga.

“In addition to individuals who can’t afford their drugs, all of us pay the price in higher health insurance premiums, because a big part of our health insurance premiums is high-cost drugs,” DeMarco said.

Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at schatlani@stateline.org.

A woman shops at the Feeding South Florida food pantry in Pembroke Park, Fla., this month. Food banks across the country are gearing up for massive demand from an interruption to federal food aid because of the government shutdown. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

There’s no way his local government can fill the void created by a disruption in the federal food stamp program, but local official Gregg Wright says his Minnesota county had to do something.

“This is pretty much a crisis for families,” said Wright, a member of the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners.

Last week, the board unanimously voted to send up to $200,000 to a local food bank to help neighbors at risk of losing food assistance because of the federal government shutdown.

Olmsted County, which has a population of about 165,000 and is home to the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, expects to lose about $1.7 million per month in benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP. It’s a predicament facing leaders across the country preparing for an unprecedented pause in the nation’s largest food assistance program as the shutdown drags on.

While attorneys general and governors from 25 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Tuesday to try to force it to pay SNAP benefits next month, the administration says it will not release funds until the congressional budget impasse is resolved.

That leaves food banks, food pantries and local governments scrambling to prepare for an onslaught of demand. States are declaring emergencies, deploying National Guard members and sending millions of taxpayer dollars to local food banks. Nonprofits are bracing for long lines, bare shelves and even panic or civic unrest as some 42 million Americans are expected to lose access to the safety net program in a matter of days.

“The enormity of this issue is almost hard to comprehend,” said Wright, who noted that his county is just one of the more than 3,000 across the country.

The local food bank estimated it could serve SNAP families for one month by spending about $400,000 on bulk food purchases. Rather than front that whole amount, the county board challenged community members to help raise another $200,000.

Wright said the county is unable to keep funding food assistance for long.

“We can’t continue to do this without raising taxes, because it isn’t in our budget,” he said. “ … Who could plan for this? Who would expect that this would come from the federal government?”

Minnesota is among 10 states where counties administer the food stamp program rather than state governments. Across the country, state and county governments have been redirecting local resources to try to fill the shutdown gap.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has set aside $80 million in state funds and deployed members of the National Guard to help food banks.

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency, saying the commonwealth would use its own funds to temporarily help SNAP recipients.

In Louisiana, state leaders are preparing to use $150 million monthly to help continue SNAP aid, while Nevada plans to funnel $38.8 million toward local food banks.

Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz announced the state would divert $4 million to food shelves across the state.

“This is meant to be a bridge,” Walz said during a Monday news conference. “It will not make up and backfill everything.”

Food banks across the country are already facing increased demand.

Virginia Witherspoon, executive director of Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester, Minnesota, said the phone was “ringing off the hook” last week. The nonprofit distributes food to partners across 14 counties and operates its own food shelf in Rochester. That pantry saw an average of about 450 families per day last month, but by last week was already averaging 550 per day, Witherspoon said.

“I don’t blame anyone who is rushing to their local food shelf and stocking up because they’re afraid they won’t be able to feed their families,” she told Stateline. “What I would say is that food shelves in Minnesota — we’re here, we’re open, we want to serve you. We’re doing our absolute best.”

Channel One and other operators, though, are concerned about the potential for panic by families scrambling for food.

Witherspoon told the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners her organization has considered asking for a police presence, but wants to be careful about what kind of message it sends to the public. She said even increasing food distribution from once to twice a week could cause people to rush in.

She said it reminds her of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when she went on local television to tell people not to worry, though she was privately concerned about running out of food.

“It’s tough. On the one hand, I’m in public sounding the alarm to you, to our donors, to our government,” she told commissioners. “But on the other hand, we don’t want to make the public panic and all come shop at once. It’s really not a good situation, and we’ve never been here before.”

Debate over federal funds

The predicament facing nonprofits and local governments is unprecedented: Food stamps have not been disrupted during other government shutdowns. And even the Trump administration previously offered assurance that it would tap into a multiyear contingency fund to continue paying SNAP benefits.

The administration reversed that position on Friday, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would not release funds in November and warned states they would not be reimbursed for spending their own revenues on the food program.

SNAP has about $6 billion in its contingency fund — short of the roughly $9 billion needed to cover a full month of the program.

It’s unclear what the administration’s position means for states that have already begun setting aside their own dollars.

Following Virginia’s emergency declaration, the newly created Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance program is expected to send money to SNAP beneficiaries starting on Nov. 3.

The governor estimates that about $37.5 million will be allocated per week to Virginia’s roughly 850,000 SNAP recipients, the Virginia Mercury reported.

Neither the governor’s office nor the Virginia Department of Social Services responded to Stateline requests for comment.

North Dakota officials said they had enough cash on hand to cover November SNAP benefits, but are unable to load the funds onto people’s electronic payment cards, the North Dakota Monitor reported.

State and federal lawmakers, advocates and attorneys general across the country have pushed the administration to release November SNAP funds.

Last week, the chief executive officer of the National Conference of State Legislatures asked the USDA to issue clear guidance on states’ ability to spend and be reimbursed for ongoing administrative costs.

North Carolina Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson, one of the officials who sued the Trump administration Tuesday, said 1.4 million people — including nearly 600,000 children — would lose SNAP aid in his state.

“They have emergency money to help feed children during this shutdown, and they’re refusing to spend it.”

Contingency plans

In New Hampshire, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte announced a state “contingency plan” to help SNAP recipients. Pending approval from other state leaders, the plan would divert $2 million to the New Hampshire Food Bank to open up to 20 locations for SNAP recipients twice a week over the next five weeks.

Officials in Ayotte’s office and the state health department did not respond to Stateline requests for comment.

Elsy Cipriani, executive director of the New Hampshire Food Bank, said the organization is still working out details with the state. She said the group would likely ask to see people’s electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards — the debit cards people use to access SNAP benefits at grocery stores — to ensure the state-purchased food goes to SNAP recipients.

“While we don’t intend to replace SNAP benefits — because we can’t; there is no way that we can replace that — we are hoping to provide some relief,” she told Stateline.

In Minnesota, county leaders are working overtime in some areas to respond to questions from SNAP recipients and help find other food assistance.

That additional workload comes without any state or federal reimbursement, said Tina Schenk, the health and human services director in rural Meeker County.

“That’s just to respond to our community, because that’s our job,” she said. “But that’s very different work than we normally do.”

The reserve funds of Meeker County, home to about 23,000 people, aren’t large enough to cover even one month’s worth of SNAP benefits, Schenk said. So county staff are instead working with local nonprofits and reaching out to families who will be hardest hit by an interruption in benefits to connect them with other state grant programs.

The sole local food shelf is increasing its orders with a central food bank, Schenk said — but so is nearly every other operation in the state.

“Are they going to have enough to fulfill these orders? That’s a question that I don’t know the answer to.”

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.

Razor wire follows the banks of the Rio Grande on the Texas side of the U.S.-Mexico border in 2024. The Trump administration now expects about 600,000 total deportations in 2025, fewer than the 685,000 under the Biden administration in fiscal 2024. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

The Trump administration now expects about 600,000 total deportations in 2025, fewer than under the Biden administration’s final fiscal year, as a drop in border crossings outweighs the effect of increased deportations elsewhere, according to a report released Oct. 30 by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. 

State and local officials are kept in the dark by limited information on deportations, the report noted, whether or not they support the administration’s mass removal agenda. 

There were 685,000 total deportations in fiscal year 2024 under Biden compared with the 600,000 projected by the Trump administration for this calendar year, the report states. 

During the 2025 fiscal year that ended in September, there were about 340,000 deportations, the report estimates, including both orders of removal and people choosing to end detention with voluntary departure. The Trump administration has projected 600,000 deportations for this calendar year, well short of an earlier goal of 1 million. 

Unauthorized migration at the border “plunged dramatically” from 2.1 million to 444,000 border encounters in the past fiscal year. Migrants also returned to a former pattern: People crossing the border were mostly single men from Mexico and children from Central America, after a previous surge of border crossers from around the world, the report states.

At the same time, news reports indicate that thousands of migrants who were headed for the U.S. border have reversed course and headed back through the Panamanian jungle to reach South America again. 

The lower level of border activity has made it possible for U.S. officials to send border patrol agents to cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago, the Migration Policy Institute report says. 

“The steep decrease in unauthorized arrivals at the border and return to nationalities that are easier to turn back because of existing repatriation agreements has permitted the administration to direct its focus to immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior,” the report states. 

For the first time since at least 2014, deportations from inside the United States outnumbered apprehensions at the border. 

The report noted that the administration has not updated many statistics that would help show trends. 

“It has become increasingly complicated to track results because only selective statistics have been made public,” the report stated. 

“Returning to regular reporting of detailed data on immigration enforcement across the various Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration agencies could not only improve the public’s understanding of current immigration enforcement activities but also inform state and local stakeholders who want to collaborate or who are affected by enforcement,” it said.

Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org.

Engineer and TV host Emily Calandrelli came to Capitol Hill Wednesday, Oct. 29, as part of an effort to require the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to enforce a policy that allows parents to bring breast milk, formula and supplies on planes. She is among many moms who say they have faced scrutiny traveling with breast milk and ice packs. (Photo by Sofia Resnick/States Newsroom)

Brinda Sen Gupta was traveling by plane for work last month without her infant but with gel packs she would need to keep her breast milk cool on the return flight. Knowing how hard it can be to get through airport security with breastmilk and infant-feeding supplies, Sen Gupta arrived extra early and prepared.

Sure enough, a U.S. Transportation Security Administration agent objected to Sen Gupta’s gel packs, she said. She took out her phone and showed a screenshot of TSA’s current policy. It stems from a 2016 law and states that breast milk, formula and toddler drinks are considered “medically necessary liquids” and are allowed in carry-on baggage in quantities greater than 3.4 ounces. The policy expressly allows breast milk and formula cooling accessories like ice and gel packs, and states a child does not have to be present for a parent to carry these supplies.

Despite the law, women continue to report issues with TSA security in airports across the country, saying many workers are not trained on their own policy.

“The TSA agent had to ask their supervisor to come,” Sen Gupta said. The supervisor reviewed the policy and allowed the gel packs through, she said, “but it was annoying to me, because I had to add extra time before I went to make sure that I could have this conversation with them.”

Sen Gupta was among several D.C. chapter leaders of the national nonprofit Chamber of Mothers who gathered in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Oct. 29, to advocate for the passage of the Bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening (BABES) Enhancement Act. Introduced in the House by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, the bill would require an audit by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security within one year of enactment to ensure the policy is being enforced and workers are being trained on how to inspect infant-feeding supplies in a way that is sanitary. 

The bill has been introduced in Congress three years in a row but failed to pass despite bipartisan support. In May for the first time the bill cleared the Senate, where it was cosponsored by Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Republican Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and Ted Cruz of Texas. It has advanced in the House, where it has 26 cosponsors, including five Republicans.

“We don’t actually need to change the policies. We need to enforce them, to have some oversight for when the policy isn’t adhered to and how they’re held accountable for those missteps,” said Emily Calandrelli, an engineer and science TV host, who brought attention to the issue after her story of being escorted out of an airport security line because of her ice packs went viral.  

Calandrelli said she is unaware of major pushback to the bill in the U.S. House, but she is not certain there will be enough support to move the legislation anytime soon, especially as the federal government shutdown is about to enter its second month.

She said she is hopeful that Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, one of the first Republicans to sign on, will recruit more members of her party. 

“At this point, we need Republicans to really lead the charge to help get to the finish line,” Calandrelli said.

In the meantime, moms who relayed their recent TSA experiences at the Chamber of Mothers event said parents traveling with infant-feeding supplies should prepare themselves for traveling — have TSA’s policy ready on their phones and arrive well ahead of time.

Travel security lines may be even slower or flights may be delayed during the shutdown, too, as federal workers like air traffic controllers and TSA agents work without pay.  

Bri Adams, another Chamber of Mothers D.C. chapter leader, said she has been dealing with the headache of nursing while frequently traveling for work for the past few years. A breast milk overproducer who had to pump frequently to maintain her supply, she said agents would handle her milk or supplies in ways that were not sanitary. Over time, she learned to advocate for herself. 

“I literally had it up on my phone, the regulations on the TSA website, ready to go, and I pretty much just acted a lot more confident,” Adams said. “This is what I’m doing, and I’m taking breast milk that’s thawed and frozen at the same time, and you’re going to let me on because you can.”

TSA has not yet responded to requests for comment. 

‘What would make motherhood easier for you?’

A driver parked the Chamber of Mothers’ black and red bus across the street from the U.S. Department of Labor, which ordinarily would have meant lots of foot traffic. But on the 29th day of the shutdown, the sidewalks and streets were largely empty of the typical tourists and federal workers, many who were either furloughed without pay or working without pay. 

The bus has stopped in nine cities over the last couple of months. Lexie Wooten said she has been to every stop, where the group’s been asking moms, “What would make motherhood easier for you?” Overwhelmingly, responses have been about economic support and paid family leave, she said. 

Wooten said she could feel the economic anxiety as Americans brace for cuts to health and food assistance programs for people with low incomes, exacerbated by the shutdown. As States Newsroom has reported, temporarily losing food assistance like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could lead to more pregnancy complications.

“People are broke, and it makes everything harder,” Wooten said.

Chamber of Mothers CEO Erin Erenberg said the organization now has 43 local chapters in 30 states and about 100,000 members nationwide, and focuses on policies meant to improve access to maternal health care, paid parental leave and affordable child care. Erenberg, who is also an intellectual property attorney, cofounded the nonprofit in 2021 with a group of fellow working moms after paid family leave was cut from former President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan. One of the state bills they’ve worked on since is Arizona’s HB 2332, a maternal mental health bill, which Gov. Katie Hobbs signed in May. 

Erenberg said the Trump administration, through the office of the vice president and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has reached out to her organization to collaborate. But before the group would work with the White House, she said there are some nonnegotiable terms, which include preserving and expanding access to affordable health care, Medicaid and SNAP — all impacted by recent federal spending policies.

“So far, this administration hasn’t shown that they’re fully behind what we advocate for,” Erenberg said. “With pronatalism, we have repeatedly said, great, you want people to have more babies? … We need paid leave, we need affordable child care, and we need you to invest in what actually would make us healthy … and survive childbirth.”

Fruit is displayed at an Anchorage grocery store. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

WASHINGTON — The near-certain freeze on key federal nutrition programs will put particular pressure on tribal communities, according to advocates and U.S. senators of both parties.

American Indian and Alaska Native communities are scrambling to fill anticipated gaps in food security and assistance created by the lack of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, during the ongoing government shutdown.

Sarah Harris, the secretary of United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. and United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund, a nonprofit and an associated advocacy group for 33 federally recognized tribal nations from Texas to Maine, told the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee during a Wednesday hearing that uncertainty over the availability of SNAP and WIC benefits is forcing tribal nations to cover the shortfall.

“Given the emergent nature of all of this crisis, tribes are scrambling, and so they’re spending their own time and resources to provide the most basic of human needs — food — for their citizens,” Harris said.

Harris gave an example of her nonprofit’s president, Penobscot Indian Nation Chief Kirk Francis, who was working with his tribal council to reallocate $200,000 to bridge the nutrition funding gap for November alone. 

“This includes asking tribal hunters to donate loose meat so that elders can be fed,” she said.

A 2024 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that food insecurity among American Indian and Alaska Native households is “significantly greater than for all U.S. households.” 

Federal ‘failure’ squeezes tribal nations 

Congress failed to fund SNAP and WIC, two major U.S. Department of Agriculture initiatives — and nearly every other discretionary federal program — for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

USDA has said it will not tap into its multi-year contingency fund to keep the program that serves 42 million people afloat in November — an about-face from its Sept. 30 shutdown plan that said it would use such funds during the shutdown. 

Lawsuits are underway to force USDA to use its reserve fund.

WIC serves nearly 7 million people and offers “free healthy foods, breastfeeding support, nutrition education and referrals to other services,” according to USDA. The program got a $300 million infusion from USDA to keep it running through October. But as November approaches, advocates are calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to provide additional emergency funds.

Some states are working to cover the funding shortfall for SNAP recipients. Tribal nations are as well, Harris said Wednesday.

“We must further subsidize to provide for the failure of our federal partners to meet their trust and treaty obligations,” she said.

“It’s also important to recognize, too, that tribal nations, we already face long-standing and continuing challenges with providing access to healthy and nutritious food for our citizens, and the challenges contribute to health and educational and overall wellness disparities across all of our tribal communities,” Harris added. 

Deciding between ‘fuel and food’

Ben Mallott, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, said that without SNAP and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, “our communities and tribal citizens will have to decide between fuel and food.” 

LIHEAP helps assist low-income families with energy costs and is managed under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program has faced funding uncertainties and disruptions due to the shutdown. 

Mallott, who leads the largest statewide Native organization in Alaska, noted that “in some of our communities, elders are there alone and might not have family to help them with food security.” 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who chairs the Senate committee, said concerns about “food versus fuel” are “very real when we talk about food insecurity.” 

The Alaska Republican also pointed to a major typhoon that hit her state earlier in October and its impacts on food supply. 

“We have heard and seen the pictures of the loss from the Typhoon Halong, and you see devastation within the village,” Murkowski said. “But the part of it that is really heartrending is when you see freezers that have been stocked with subsistence foods … all that had been gathered that would take these families through the winter that now is lost because there’s no power in these villages, and so their food source for the winter is gone.” 

Coupled with the reliance on SNAP, Murkowski said “this is a point that for many in Alaska is tangibly real and tangibly frightening, and so, everything that we can do to make sure that SNAP and WIC funding is able to proceed, I think, has got to be a priority for us.”

Impacts on tribal nations in Minnesota, Nevada 

Other senators on the panel highlighted the consequences of funding for nutrition programs running out for Native communities in their states.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said that 200 families living in the Duck Valley Indian Reservation would “lose access to essential food support.”

In response, the “tribe is preparing to rely on traditional practices such as hunting elk to feed their members,” adding that “it’s important to highlight how serious of an issue this will become,” she said.

Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said she’s hearing from tribal nations in her state about people switching from SNAP to another USDA program, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, or FDPIR.

“I’m hearing from Minnesota tribes that there’s kind of switching happening right now, as people are trying to figure out where is the best place to be able to get stable sources of nutrition assistance for folks on tribal lands,” she said.

FDPIR provides food “to income-eligible households living on Indian reservations and to Native American households residing in designated areas near reservations or in Oklahoma,” according to USDA. 

Households are not allowed to participate in both SNAP and FDPIR in the same month. The agency said average monthly participation for FDPIR in fiscal 2023 included 49,339 people. 

“People are in the midst of sort of trying to figure out how to change their benefits,” Smith said.

She added that this came on top of massive cuts to SNAP in Trump’s signature tax and spending cut package he signed into law earlier this year. 

Activism against Line 5 includes members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and residents across Wisconsin, including at this home in Madison. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

Environmental groups are blasting what some are calling a “premature and unlawful decision” by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to approve federal permits for the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline project in northern Wisconsin. The permits have been issued despite an ongoing court challenge to state-level permits  and before Wisconsin’s water quality certification for the project has been finalized. 

“This is a clear violation of the Clean Water Act,” said Rob Lee, staff attorney with Midwest Environmental Advocates. “It appears the Army Corps is fast-tracking a fossil fuel project at the expense of environmental protection and legal due process.”

In June, Midwest Environmental Advocates submitted formal comments during a public hearing warning the Army Corps to not approve the permits until a final water quality certification had been issued by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). A water quality permit had been issued in November but that permit  is still the subject of litigation and therefore has not been  finalized. 

“Federal law is clear,” Lee said in a statement. “The Army Corps can’t approve this project without final water quality certification from the relevant state authority. The DNR’s certification is still being challenged in court, which means it’s not legally final — and that makes this permit premature and unlawful.” 

Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin said in a statement that the group was “horrified that the Army Corps is willing to condone an extremely dangerous project that will irreparably destroy the integrity of the watershed.” Conmiller added that  “the damage, not to mention the long term risks associated with the pipeline itself, must be considered before any such project would be granted permits to proceed.” 

Owned by the Canadian oil giant Enbridge, Line 5 is an over 70-year old  pipeline carrying thousands of gallons of crude oil from Canada into the U.S. A federal court ruled pipeline route has been trespassing on the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation. Enbridge’s planned  reroute is also being challenged before an administrative law judge.  Advocates for the pipeline say it will generate 700  jobs and boost Wisconsin’s energy sector, while critics  argue that the pipeline’s new route would continue to threaten the Bad River watershed and other ecosystems in the event of a catastrophic oil spill. .

Clean Wisconsin has intervened in the administrative challenge to the planned pipeline reroute. “The health of these ecosystems is critical to Tribal Nations, fisheries, and local economies across the region,” said Clean Wisconsin President Mark Redsten in a statement. The group highlighted that tourism alone generates $378 million in economic activity and supports over 2,800 jobs in Bayfield, Ashland, Douglas and Iron counties.

In the past, Enbridge pipeline spills have devastated waterways and habitats. Another Enbridge pipeline leaked over 69,000 gallons of oil before the breach was noticed in late 2024, the same week environmental and trial groups filed new legal challenges of the Line 5 reroute. 

Emily Park, co-executive director of 350 Wisconsin, said the group was “deeply disturbed” by the decision. “Wisconsinites and millions of other residents of the region depend on clean and healthy water for our lives, food, jobs, and recreation,” said Park. “We are appalled that the Army Corps is willing to appease a foreign corporation by risking the health of water, the stability of our climate, and the wellbeing of current and future generations.”

By “fast-tracking the Line 5 reroute,” said Sierra Club Wisconsin Chapter Director Elizabeth Ward, “the Army Corps has backed Canadian oil giant Enbridge at the expense of the Bad River Band, Wisconsinites, and the 40 million people who rely on the Great Lakes for safe drinking water. There’s no safe way to reroute this pipeline. Every day that Line 5 continues to operate, our water, ecosystems, and way of life is in danger.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

A gray wolf (Getty Images).

Permanent rules to guide the conduct of wolf hunting in Wisconsin are set to take effect Saturday, capping off a yearslong process in which the state Department of Natural Resources worked to write policy about one of the most politically polarized issues facing the state. 

A state law enacted in 2012 requires that when the animal isn’t protected on the federal endangered species list, a hunt must be held. DNR staff say the permanent rules will prevent a potential future hunt from being stopped by a lawsuit while tightening some of the provisions that resulted in the highly controversial 2021 wolf hunt in which hunters exceeded their 200-wolf quota in just three days. 

The wolf has been back on the federal endangered species list since a ruling by a federal judge in California in 2022. 

The rules largely govern how a hunt must be held if and when the animal is no longer considered endangered. During previous hunts, the DNR was operating under emergency rules. DNR officials have warned that a future hunt without permanent rules in place could be halted by the court system. 

The new rules include shortening the window by which hunters must register wolf kills, update wolf harvest zone boundaries, issue zone-specific tags and provide protections for wolf dens. 

They were passed unanimously by the state Natural Resources Board in October 2023 at the same time it enacted the first full rewrite of Wisconsin’s wolf management plan since 1999. The management plan stirred debate because it doesn’t specifically declare a numerical population goal. Instead, the plan divides the state into sub-regions in which DNR staff will regularly determine if the local wolf population needs to be reduced, maintained or allowed to grow. 

Farm and hunting groups, who are often fiercely opposed to the growth of Wisconsin’s wolf population because of concerns about wolf attacks on livestock, hunting dogs and pets, as well as longstanding societal and cultural fears of the animals, were largely against the new wolf management plan. Those groups pushed for the plan to include a statewide population goal of 350 wolves — which is the number stated in the 1999 plan, written when the animal was beginning its slow comeback to the state’s landscape after being extirpated in the 20th century. 

Estimates put the current Wisconsin wolf population at about 1,200 wolves, with signs that number is stabilizing. 

Environmental groups and the state’s Native American tribes were in favor of the new management method, stating it matches the best available science for how to responsibly manage animal populations and fearing that the anti-wolf crowd would see a 350-wolf population goal as a ceiling. The wolf is especially important to the Ojibwe people, who have a deep spiritual connection with the animals. 

Some Republicans in the Legislature were also opposed to the new wolf management plan and for years the implementation of the new rules had been held up by a Republican-controlled committee. A recent state Supreme Court ruling found that the committee couldn’t indefinitely prevent the passage of administrative rules, allowing the DNR to move forward. 

Also this year, Senate sporting heritage committee chair Sen. Rob Stafsholt (R-New Richmond) wrote a letter to the DNR asking if it would make changes to the rule. Stafsholt’s requested changes included setting a statewide population goal or range, increasing the harvest registration window to 12 hours, allowing harvest tags to be used anywhere statewide and eliminating all subzones, including areas set aside as a measure to protect wolf packs on tribal reservations. 

Despite those objections, the DNR has continued to move forward without any changes. 

Amy Mueller, a member of the Sierra Club of Wisconsin’s executive committee, says she feels like the rules and the management plan are the best possible compromise on an issue as polarizing as wolves, in which one side is opposed to wolf hunting in general and the other would like to see the population reduced. 

“I think this is probably the best kind of compromise we can hope for coming out of an emergency rule that had been on the books for, you know, decades — a plan from 1999 that still had a population goal hoping that we could reach 350 wolves,” she says. “I feel like these are important steps, and probably good wins where we need them. And of course, I’d like to see more, but I think being realistic, this is still worth supporting.” 

Mueller adds that she believes the DNR gets an “unproportionate amount of flak that’s misdirected” about wolf hunting because it has to follow the law and the law requires wolf hunts. 

“Unfortunately, if we want to stop wolf hunting we need to look at the makeup of the Legislature, and we need to figure out how to amend Act 169. So I think the DNR is doing what it can with a very controversial issue and having their hands tied by this law,” she says. 

Tyler Wenzlaff, director of national affairs at the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, echoes Mueller, saying public opinion is at “two different extremes” but that the new rules and plan do seem to represent a good compromise that will help guide the state whenever a hunt happens again.

“We have two forces here that are — we’re trying to get the number as low as we can, and the tribes are at a zero quota. And so the DNR is in the middle, trying to navigate these two forces and bring us to some kind of compromise,” he says. 

“And looking at the rule,” he adds, “we support the rule and some of the changes that were made. We believe that it’s a strong compromise for both the agriculture and hunting community, but also those that want to see wolves remain on the landscape in strong numbers. And so moving forward, we believe this rule is in a good place. And really a permanent rule is necessary for Wisconsin to delist the wolves in the future and have a hunting season.” 

As the DNR works to implement the new rules, Mueller, who has a seat on the DNR’s Wolf Advisory Committee, says she’s looking forward to working on the plan’s provisions for education about wolves and their role in the ecosystem and efforts for non-lethal abatement of wolf conflicts with humans and livestock. 

Wenzlaff says the Farm Bureau is going to continue pushing for a numerical population goal to be set, even if it’s set to a level higher than the 350 wolves advocates have sought. 

“If the population were to be gradually reduced to a more socially acceptable range, it would restore balance between maintaining a healthy wolf population and protecting farmers’ livelihood, pets and livestock,” he says. Wenzlaff says farmers are willing to hash out the right number with the wolf management committee, “but unfortunately, the DNR didn’t want to have that conversation. So we’re left with broad guidelines that can be reinterpreted by the next administration, which we don’t really support.” 

For both sides of the wolf debate, the outcome of next year’s midterm elections are going to play an important role in their efforts. 

For tribes and environmental groups, the prospect of Democrats gaining control of the Legislature and holding the governor’s office presents an opportunity to repeal or change the wolf hunting law to block whatever actions the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress take. 

“There’s a lot at stake, because right or wrong, wolves are highly political,” Mueller says. “So I think [I’m] optimistic about the potential changeover in our state but cautiously optimistic. Understanding there’s a lot at stake, and it could really change things for wolves in Wisconsin, for the better or for the worse.” 

For the farm and hunting groups, the prospect of a Republican governor would mean the state government is pushing in the same direction as the Trump administration. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor and seen as the frontrunner in the Republican primary, has authored legislation that would take the wolf off the federal endangered species list. 

Wenzlaff says the Farm Bureau is ready to work with either party and wants to focus on how to get wolves delisted by Congress. 

“It really comes down to the federal government and what their plans are,” he says. “What Wisconsin does really doesn’t matter until we have that delisting … There’s a lot of different ideas on what that could look like, but we’re willing to work with anybody, any stakeholders that are willing to talk about a reasonable wolf management goal.”

Credit: Richard Theis/EyeEm/Getty

In Wisconsin, the last time there was a commutation — a reduction of a criminal sentence by the governor’s authority to grant clemency — it was during Republican Tommy Thompson’s administration (1987-2001). Thompson issued seven commutations in addition to 202 pardons.

Subsequently, with the exception of  former  Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who served from 2011 to 2019, governors have offered hundreds of pardons.

Gov. Tony Evers set a record for the number of pardons he’s offered during his seven years in office at 1,640.

However, like his fellow Democratic Gov. James Doyle, who issued 326 pardons, Evers has not issued any commutations.

Members of WISDOM, a non-profit faith-based organization that works to end mass incarceration, say Evers told them in 2023  that he would begin issuing commutations.

However, Evers has never made an official statement on his position concerning commutations. He did not respond to a request for a comment on the matter from the Wisconsin Examiner.

Evers ran for office promising to reduce Wisconsin’s prison population. After a dip during the COVID-19 pandemic, the prison population is experiencing an upswing. There were 23,495 people in prison in Wisconsin as of Sept. 26, compared with 23,292 when Evers took office on Jan. 7, 2019. Nearly every prison in the state reports a population exceeding the facility’s official capacity.

Criminal justice advocacy groups like WISDOM and Ex-incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO) of Wisconsin have noted that one way Evers could address the prison population is by offering commutations, especially for those who have served long sentences and have proven to be low risks to return to society.

In 2023, Beverly Walker of WISDOM led a team that included legal scholars to study how commutations were conducted in neighboring states and prepared a proposal for how Wisconsin could begin implementing commutations again.

“We wanted to offer [Evers’] legal team something that could be advanced and not be a hindrance that they could move forward with and be implemented,” said Walker.

Walker said the proposal had two components:

1.     The commutation would make the resident eligible for parole, with a parole board considering the application and making a recommendation.
2.     The governor could issue a direct commutation resulting in a shortened sentence, including possible release from prison.

“We said if you are uncomfortable releasing people from prison, we ask that you just make them eligible for parole,” said Walker.  “Allow them to go before the parole board, and the parole board make the decision on their eligibility based on what they see.”

“A lot of these people will never see the light of day without a commutation,” she said. “But a lot of these people have done college, gotten degrees, have been doing amazing work inside prison, and some have even been allowed to work outside of the fence and are just doing great, exhibiting great behaviour. They have transformative stories, and they have proved that they have put in the work.”

Walker’s team is asking Evers to consider commuting the sentences of people serving long-term sentences in prison whom the group identified for their good behavior and good prospects for release. In anticipation of release, Walker’s team also researched the availability of work opportunities, housing and even resources such as food pantries.

Commutation candidates

In response to a request from the  Examiner for  information on the candidates, Walker said her team decided not to release their names for fear of damaging their chances. WISDOM’s Sherry Reames, a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison English professor and volunteer on the commutations committee, offered a general description of all the present candidates for commutation. 

According to Reames, the candidates were all convicted of a serious crime, mostly first-degree intentional homicide (either alone as party to a crime) in the 1990s when they were young men, between 20 and 22.

All the candidates were sentenced to decades in prison and will not be eligible for parole until the 2040s.

“Historically a life sentence in Wisconsin had allowed for the possibility of parole after about 15 years, a length of time which the Sentencing Project and other authorities have determined is about long enough to punish most crimes, especially by young offenders,” said Reames, “but it was the ‘tough on crime’ 1990s when our commutation candidates were convicted.”

Walker also said the candidates have used their years in prison to change their lives.

“Some of them initially had a hard time adjusting to the prison rules, but they have matured into model citizens, who lead and train other workers and earn positive reviews from staff,” said Reames. “Some have been continuously employed by Badger State Industries (now BSE) for a decade or more at a time, while others have rotated through the whole gamut of prison jobs (kitchen, laundry, custodial, library, clerk, maintenance, tier tender, etc., etc.). What they all have in common, however, are their obvious work ethic and self-discipline.”

Reames also said some candidates have obtained their high school degrees in prison and then certification as electricians, barbers, carpenters, bakers or building-service managers. 

Some have also earned college credits from four-year universities, she said.

“Several have completed Trinity International University’s whole four-year degree program in Biblical studies with a minor in psychology, laying the foundation for careers as pastors and counselors,” said Reames, “and others have completed the necessary training to assist younger prisoners as certified peer mentors and tutors.”

Some also participated in Restorative Justice and Victim Impact programs.

Post announcement

When Evers announced this summer that he wasn’t going to run for another term, advocates expressed renewed interest in pressing him for commutations before he leaves office.

Walker told the Wisconsin Examiner that her group is engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the governor’s legal staff. In September, while acknowledging gratitude for all the pardons Evers has issued, Walker also expressed frustration over the lack of action on commutations.

“I am challenging him (Evers) to uphold these things that he has said,” said Walker. “He made these campaign promises that he was going to reduce the prison population, that he was going to do all these things as it pertains to people incarcerated and that included commutations, and it has been over two years and I don’t want to be disappointed, and at what point will I be able to be proud of this man that I elected?”

At the end of October, however, Walker was more upbeat about the possibility of a commutation: “It does look promising,” she said.

Marianne Oleson, operations director for EXPO, said her advocacy group also sees a window of opportunity in Evers’ last year in office and has also discussed commutations with the governor’s office and with legislators and their aides.

“Whenever we have the opportunity, we put out eblast constantly; we put out social media, “ said Oleson.

“We have individuals who are currently incarcerated, who have been incarcerated for decades, who have zero infractions (disciplinary reports generated within prisons) that have gone over and beyond, done everything that has been asked of them to do,” she added. “ … they’re caught in this loop because of Truth in Sentencing. If they’re not going to be paroled, give them a commutation. And then there’s individuals who have life sentences that were really, quite frankly, only due to being party to a crime where these individuals were very young at the time, and their situations deserve at least to be considered and looked at.”

Truth in Sentencing is a tough-on-crime policy from the 1990s that, in  Wisconsin, requires a mandatory period of prison time be served before release, with no discretion given to a parole board that in previous years had the authority to review the status of prisoners and could authorize early release.

The reality today for those sentenced after Dec. 31, 1999, when Truth in Sentencing  took effect, is that the possibility of early release has become very remote. 

A commutation by the governor would be one legal way to shorten the confinement and extended supervision for both those sentenced before and after Truth in Sentencing was implemented.

However, in Wisconsin, there is currently no process for applying for a commutation.

There is a process to apply for a pardon through the Governor’s Pardon Advisory Board, but it requires that the sentence of confinement and extended supervision have been fulfilled, followed by a five-year period of a clear record. If one meets the condition for a pardon in Wisconsin, there is no need for a commutation because the sentence has been fully served.

“When I have approached the governor’s office to even discuss commutations, I’m automatically referred to the pardon application,” said Oleson. “You are comparing apples to oranges. A pardon eliminates the conviction, a blank slate; a commutation maintains the conviction, maintains the accountability, but says you’ve served enough time. You no longer should be serving decades or years longer. You have proven you have served enough time. You still hold the conviction, but you are not chained to the DOC.”

Other voices for commutation

The ACLU of Wisconsin is encouraging Evers to exercise his authority to offer commutations in Wisconsin.

“For decades, commutations have been vastly underutilized at the state level,” said David Gwidt, deputy communication director. “Commuting sentences has gone from a relatively routine practice historically to an exceedingly rare one since the rise of mass incarceration, as governors on both sides of the aisle are reluctant to commute sentences out of fear they will be labeled as ‘soft on crime’ for doing so. But that’s starting to change in other states.”

Governors in New Jersey, Oregon, California, Alabama, and Oklahoma, have all used their commutation authority in recent years, Gwidt added.  “Commutation is a tool that can help decarcerate our overpopulated prisons, rectify unjust, wrongful or excessively long sentences, and offer incarcerated people a pathway to redemption,” he said. “We hope Gov. Evers uses his remaining time in office as an opportunity to grant commutation and clemency to those who earn a chance at freedom.” 

Speaking as a member of a panel discussion on solitary confinement and conditions inside Wisconsin prisons,  on Sunday, Oct. 12 in Madison, state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), a  candidate for governor, said commutations should be used for those who have been incarcerated for decades and are no longer a threat to society.

“Just in general, I think the clemency powers have been very underutilized in Wisconsin,” she said. “We have people who have been incarcerated for decades and decades. People age out of crime… and now you have people, some of whom have terminal and chronic illnesses. They are in their 60s, their 70s, their 80s, and they could easily and very safely live back with their loved ones after many decades of incarceration. And yet they are being denied this and then state taxpayers are being asked to essentially fund their incarceration and their health care.”

National discussion

In a July 13, 2025 op-ed in the New York Times, “Governors, Use Your Clemency Power,” CUNY law professor Steven Zeidman wrote:  

“President Trump is making shameless use of his constitutional clemency power, rewarding insurrectionists, cronies, campaign contributors and sundry others. But this is not the only problem. Mr. Trump’s acts of commission are paralleled by American governors’ acts of omission. Even though they control the bulk of the country’s prison population and typically have the power to grant clemency, many governors have consistently failed to exercise the power of forgiveness, to all of our detriment.”

Zeidman notes that of the two million people currently in confinement in the United States, most are in state prisons, under the authority of governors.

Zeidman, who has pursued over 100 commutations in New York and won 21, talked to the Wisconsin Examiner about the reluctance he sees in governors to exercise their constitutional authority.

Addressing the perception of being soft on crime, Zeidman said it might be easier for Republicans who have established a tough-on-crime posture to offer commutation. That might be why the last commutation in Wisconsin was under Thompson, a tough-on-crime Republican.

According to a  2023 report, “Executive Clemency Power in Wisconsin” by Jillian Slaight for the Legislative Reference Bureau, Thompson commuted the sentence of seven people serving parole, stating, “further supervision would serve no useful purpose.”

The same report found that Gov. Patrick Lucey, a Democrat who served from 1971 to 1977  issued 177 commutations, including one to a man who had failed to provide child support. Lucey stated that sending the man back to prison prevented him from working and providing support.

Democratic Gov. Gaylord Nelson, who served from 1959 to 1963, issued 27 commutations for people he considered “rehabilitated.”

Cautionary tales vs. data

Zeidman and others who advocate for commutations argue that those eligible for commutation should undergo rigorous screening, including having members of the victims’ families and the district attorney participate in the commutation process.

“There should be a real careful vetting process,” he says, adding, “I would say to Wisconsin, have a very careful vetting process, go over it with a fine-tooth comb, and at the end of the day, it’s not going to be none (who are eligible for commutation) and it’s not going to be thousands either.”

Zeidman and the advocates say reincarceration rates are low for those who have served long sentences.

The Wisconsin DOC’s data on reincarceration shows a notable decrease for those who have served five years or more in prison.

A study prepared for the New York City Council in 2023 called “Justice on Aging” also noted older residents in prison tend not to return: “Nationwide, 43.3 percent of all released individuals recidivate within three years, while only seven percent of those aged 50-64 and four percent over 65 return to prison for new convictions—the lowest rates among all incarcerated age demographics.”

 “It’s a fact, people age out of crime,” Zeidman says. 

Another argument for restoring the possibility of early release is that rewarding good behaviour with commutations motivates more good behavior in prison. 

“Give people an incentive to improve themselves and get on with their lives,” says Tom Denk, an advocate for WISDOM who has served time in prison. 

“It does seem that too many governors are thinking about clemency and commutation in particular as a political act instead of an act of mercy or grace,” says Jennifer Soble, executive director of the Illinois Prison Project, who represents clients in Illinois who have a case for early release.  “And so they are shying away from commutations on the statistically very unlikely event that a commutation could end up harming them politically, and that’s a real tragedy, because we are talking about real human beings who are living their lives in prison, many of whom are doing so under the extraordinarily unjust circumstances.”

Soble says many in Illinois prisons received long sentences, even life sentences, under older laws, but if processed today, their sentences would not be as extreme.

As an example of how laws have changed in Illinois, she says, formerly, any death resulting during a pursuit of a crime by law enforcement, such as the police chasing a suspect and firing a weapon, killing an innocent person, could result in murder charges to the suspect being pursued, even if the suspect had not directly participated in the death.

“And the only way for those folks to get out is through clemency and there’s no other path,” she says, “and so although I understand political caution, especially in these very challenging times, that caution cannot come at the expense of a person’s entire life.”

Zeidman also notes there is movement across the country to take a second look at sentences. In Wisconsin, a bill that stalled in 2024 would review the life sentences without parole for those who were convicted while they were under 18 years of age but were prosecuted as adults.

“The prison system is intentionally sort of secreted away,” says Soble.  “Incarcerated people are not visible on purpose. And so your average person walking down the street is not thinking about, you know, is there or is there not a reasonably plausible way for an incarcerated person who shouldn’t be in prison to come home?”

Before he left office, President Joe Biden issued one of the largest commutations of all time for 2,500 people in the federal Bureau of Prisons system who had committed non-violent crimes.

“The recidivism rate of that group has been extraordinarily low,” says Soble of the 2,500 Biden commuted. “That effort saved taxpayer dollars. It made good sense. It was a good policy decision. It was also a just and humane decision, but governors at the state level have been just pretty unwilling to follow suit, even in cases that feel very, very obvious.”

Criminal Justice Fellow  Andrew Kennard contributed to this report.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Furloughed federal workers stand in line for hours ahead of a special food distribution by the Capital Area Food Bank and No Limits Outreach Ministries on Barlowe Road in Hyattsville, Maryland, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

HYATTSVILLE, Maryland — Ginette Young lined up with hundreds of furloughed federal workers ahead of a special food bank distribution on Tuesday in a suburb just outside the District of Columbia.

“I’m here because I’ve had no paycheck for the last two weeks, and a short paycheck for the two weeks prior. I’ve had to cover bills, and my credit cards have been paying my medical and doctor’s appointments. So I just need to restock the pantry a little bit, just to help get us over the hump,” said Young, a 61-year-old auditor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Young, a District resident, was among hundreds of furloughed federal workers hoping to get pantry staples and fresh produce at the event sponsored by the Capital Area Food Bank and No Limits Outreach Ministries in Hyattsville.

Food security took center stage in the shutdown debate this week as hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers faced another missed paycheck and 42 million recipients of federal food assistance were told they will stop receiving benefits Saturday.

The Trump administration has said it will not tap emergency funds at the USDA to extend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, despite loud cries from advocates and Democrats who say it’s perfectly legal for officials to use the rainy day money.

“The longer the shutdown continues, distributions like this will end up being truly a lifeline for so many,” said Radha Muthiah, president and CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank. 

“And I worry that we’re just going to see double, triple the numbers of people, both federal government furloughed workers, as well as those who are expecting SNAP benefits and being surprised Saturday morning when they don’t have it,” Muthiah said.

Food bank staff anticipated about 150 households would show up at its first distribution event for federal workers earlier in October. The organization had to quickly double its figures, Muthiah said. 

At Tuesday’s event, the food bank and No Limits Outreach Ministries brought enough to serve 400 households. Add a complete stop to food assistance to low-income families, and the region’s hunger needs will skyrocket, Muthiah said.

“In our entire region, there are about 400,000 SNAP recipients, and on average, they receive about $330 in SNAP benefits for a family of two people a month. And so if that were to be disrupted at the cost of a meal in our region, that’s about 80 meals vanishing from the tables of SNAP recipients across our region,” Muthiah said. 

“So we are ramping up, purchasing more food to be able to distribute through our partners into the community.” 

Kale, collard greens handed out

Tracy Bryce, 59, of District Heights, Maryland, unloaded kale and collard greens from the back of a U-Haul truck as hundreds of federal workers, with employment IDs in hand, waited for the noon distribution to open.

Bryce, a retired U.S. Marshal of 34 years, now volunteers with No Limits Outreach Ministries.

“I’ve been where they are,” Bryce said.

Byron Ford, 34, of Hyattsville, sat for hours in a chair he brought that morning, as temperatures hovered in the high 40s. 

“I’m just here today trying to get some food, just trying to provide healthy food for the family,” said Ford, who has two children ages 4 and 7.

“We’re fortunate that we have things like this to provide for people who aren’t receiving a paycheck. So we’re fortunate, we’re still blessed.”

A civilian employee who works in finance for the Department of the Navy, Ford is also worried about family members who receive SNAP benefits.

“We’re just spending our savings and trying to help,” he said.

Young said she remembers what it was like to need SNAP several decades ago.

“I was, you know, trying to work and go to college at the same time, and I had my kid, so yeah, I had SNAP for a little while. It’s meant to help people until they get on their feet,” she said.

A furloughed government project manager who did not want to provide her full name for fear of losing her job, said “being a political pawn is hard.”

“They (lawmakers) get the chance to go home in the middle of all this and not finish with the appropriations, not continue to walk through conversations, because they are choosing to dishonor the position that the people put them in and still get paid while their people suffer,” she said.

Grocers, retailers worry over SNAP cutoff

Retailers and grocers, already bracing for losses when Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” SNAP cuts take effect, are also urging lawmakers to reopen the government.

“We urge Congress to move forward now on a path that reopens the government and ensures families relying on SNAP can access their November benefits without interruption or delay,” Jennifer Hatcher, The Food Industry Association’s chief public policy officer, said in a statement Oct. 21.

The already planned SNAP cuts are slated to cost food retailers hundreds of millions of dollars, industry groups warned. 

Food retailers estimate up-front costs of forthcoming new SNAP requirements signed into law by President Donald Trump in July will cost convenience stores roughly $1 billion, supermarkets just over $305 million, supercenters such as Walmart an estimated $215.5 million and small-format stores about $11.8 million, according to an impact analysis last month by The Food Industry Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores and the National Grocers Association.

Ed Bolen, director of SNAP State Strategies at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said retailers could face “very drastic” losses if SNAP is also completely stopped Nov. 1.

“Just imagine a 100% cut for a month or so,” said Bolen, of the left-leaning think tank.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union sent a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins Monday requesting the agency spend contingency funding to extend SNAP benefits beyond next week.

“Rising costs at the grocery store already threaten household budgets, especially for low-income families. An interruption in food assistance will only make matters worse, and workers in meatpacking, food processing, and grocery could see a reduction in hours and wages if SNAP dollars aren’t available to be spent in their stores or on their products,” wrote Milton Jones, president of the union that, according to the organization, represents roughly 1.2 million workers.

The U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats urged Republican leaders Wednesday to pass a bill to extend critical food assistance for the most vulnerable Americans during the ongoing government shutdown.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Democrats would support a standalone bill introduced by GOP Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley. And New Mexico Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján attempted to pass by unanimous consent his bill to fund two major nutrition assistance programs.

“Let’s end this hunger crisis before it begins,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. 

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune objected to Luján’s proposal, and the government shutdown entered its fifth week with lawmakers of both parties showing no signs of the agreement needed to reopen the government in time to avoid putting 42 million people at risk of losing their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits Saturday.

Beneficiaries of SNAP, which covers low-income people, children and those with disabilities, are supposed to receive payments Nov. 1. But the shutdown and the Trump administration’s contention it cannot release contingency funding to cover the cost of November benefits mean many will go without.

Democrats held several press conferences Wednesday, the shutdown’s 29th day, raising concerns about the loss of SNAP benefits and slamming the U.S. Department of Agriculture for not tapping into its multi-year contingency fund to approve food assistance for November. 

The move has caused states to scramble to provide aid, strained local food banks and has resulted in a lawsuit from dozens of state officials this week to force the agency to release funds for SNAP.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, urged Thune, a South Dakota Republican, to bring Hawley’s bill to the Senate for a floor vote. The bill would fund SNAP amid the funding lapse. 

Thune declines to bring standalone bills

But Thune has rejected considering bills that fund single programs during the shutdown. He has instead pushed for Democrats to approve a House-passed GOP measure to temporarily reopen the government.

“We’re not going to pick winners and losers,” he said after objecting to Lujan’s bill.”It’s time to fund everybody who’s experiencing the pain from this shutdown.”

Thune said on the Senate floor that he will only call another vote on the House-passed GOP stopgap measure if Senate Democrats “tell me they have enough votes to fund the government.”

The Senate this week, for the 13th time, failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to move forward on a measure to extend government funding through Nov. 21. 

Democrats have voted against the short-term funding bill in an effort to spark negotiations on tax credits that will expire at the end of the year for people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Republicans have said those talks can begin when the government is funded. 

Open enrollment for the ACA marketplace starts Nov. 1 in most states. Democrats have predicted that when people start getting their quotes for health insurance and seeing significantly higher prices for out-of-pocket premiums, it will force Republicans to negotiate on tax credits. 

“We are days away from a health care crisis,” Schumer said.  

Shutdown to become ‘very real’

House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a morning press conference the government shutdown “gets very real” Saturday when the federal government will no longer pay out SNAP benefits. 

“You’re talking about tens of millions of Americans at risk of going hungry, if the Senate Democrats continue this gambit,” Johnson said. 

The Louisiana Republican, who voted against the stopgap spending bill that ended the 2018-2019 shutdown, repeatedly urged rank-and-file Democratic senators to “do the right thing.”

“I think Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are irredeemable at this point,” Johnson said, referring to the top Democrats in both chambers. “I’ve given up on the leadership. So we’re trying to appeal to a handful of moderates or centrists who care more about the American people and will put the people’s interest over their own and do the right thing in the Senate.”

Johnson also disparaged a lawsuit filed by Democratic attorneys general that asked a federal judge to require funding for SNAP be paid out during the government shutdown. 

“Instead of taking a simple vote to fund the government, which Senate Democrats have now had more than a dozen opportunities to do, Democrat attorneys general are suing the federal government to try to compel SNAP benefits to flow, despite the government being closed and despite the fact that there is no money to do that,” Johnson said.

Freeze on SNAP contingency fund questioned

Luján held up a printed out copy of USDA’s Sept. 30 shutdown contingency plan during an early afternoon press conference, saying the agency’s refusal to tap into its emergency funds for SNAP recipients was nonsensical.

He slammed the agency for removing its own contingency plan from its website, which verifies that in case of a funding lapse, USDA would use its roughly $6 billion in contingency funds to cover SNAP benefits during a government shutdown.

“This is the bulls–t, taking these plans down to try to lie to the American people and justify why it’s okay for people to go hungry,” Luján said. 

Luján’s bill that he tried to get approval through unanimous consent, would have funded SNAP during a government shutdown as well as the USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC.

Senate Agriculture Committee ranking Democrat Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, said that Democrats are ready to support Lujan’s bill or Hawley’s bill. She added that she and several other Democrats plan to co-sponsor Hawley’s bill. So far, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont is the only Democrat to co-sponsor the bill.

The 10 Senate Republicans who have co-sponsored Hawley’s bill include Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted of Ohio, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and John Cornyn of Texas. 

Colorado Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse argued during a midday press conference that Trump administration officials have “made a conscious and deliberate choice to suspend SNAP benefits.”

“It is outrageous that the Trump administration can come up with $40 billion to bail out Argentina and refuses to spend the money that Congress has appropriated to feed hungry families in America,” Neguse said. 

House Agriculture Committee ranking member Angie Craig, D-Minn., said the law regarding SNAP’s contingency fund “is clear and unambiguous” and that Trump’s “actions display a pattern of callous disregard for America’s hungry seniors, children and veterans.”

Craig said the USDA should use the contingency fund to pay most of the November benefits. The department should then use some of the $23 billion in another account referred to as Section 32 to cover the rest of the cost, Craig said. 

Craig also pushed back against criticisms of SNAP, saying it provides about ​​$6.20 a day for food.

“This does not come close to covering even one trip to the grocery store a month for most American families, especially as this administration has started a trade war that is driving up costs for everyone in our country,” Craig said. “So this is exactly the point.”

Shutdown projected to hurt economy

Because of the ramifications for federal programs like SNAP and delayed paychecks for federal workers, the ongoing shutdown is expected to have a negative impact on the economy, according to an analysis the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released Wednesday.

Director Phillip L. Swagel wrote in an eight-page letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, that the funding lapse “will delay federal spending and have a negative effect on the economy that will mostly, but not entirely, reverse once the shutdown ends.”

The federal government spent $33 billion less than it would have during the first four weeks of the shutdown. The funding lapse lasting for six weeks would result in a $54 billion drop in outlays and if it goes on for eight weeks, it would lead the federal government to put $74 billion less into the economy. 

“Those amounts include delayed spending for employee compensation, goods and services, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” Swagel wrote. “CBO expects that when appropriations resume, the spending that did not occur during the shutdown will be made up.”

Swagel cautioned that the projections “are subject to considerable uncertainty. 

“The effects of the shutdown will depend on decisions made by the Administration throughout the shutdown, including decisions about which executive branch activities continue and which are halted.”

Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin have announced food drives and are blaming Republicans for looming cuts in federal food assistance. (Getty Images)

With the expected loss of federal food assistance funding starting Saturday, Democratic state lawmakers are mounting a series of food drives as part of their campaign to draw attention to their argument that Republicans are to blame.

Wisconsin’s FoodShare program will stop receiving its monthly payments from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, starting Nov. 1.

The Trump administration has blocked further SNAP funding as a result of the federal shutdown that began Oct. 1, although the U.S. Department of Agriculture has $6 billion in reserves. A coalition of Democratic attorneys general and governors, including in Wisconsin, has sued the administration over the refusal to tap the reserve fund.  

In Milwaukee County, Sen. Chris Larson and state Rep. Christine Sinicki, both Milwaukee Democrats, scheduled a news conference and food drive for Thursday morning at a food pantry in Cudahy, a suburb just south of the city.

Across the state, Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) and Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) are holding a news conference and food drive Thursday morning in Eau Claire in conjunction with local nonprofits there.

Reps. Jill Billings (D-La Crosse) and Tara Johnson (D-Town of Shelby) are holding a press conference and food drive on Thursday afternoon at a La Crosse food bank, joined by local advocates. 

The aim is “to highlight the disastrous effects of the shutdown on Wisconsinites and discuss how our community can step up to support the most vulnerable among us in their time of need,” Billings’ office stated in announcing the event.

Johnson has also scheduled an event  and food drive Friday with Sen. Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) at a Viroqua food pantry with Vernon County advocates.

In Appleton, the Democratic Party of Outagamie County and state Senate hopeful Emily Tseffos have organized a two-week food drive that began Monday, Oct. 27 and will run through Nov. 8. That drive will supply pantries across the Fox Valley, according to the group.

“The fact that the government remains shut down while people right here are about to go hungry didn’t sit right with me,” Tseffos said in a statement. “So a group of friends and I got together to see what we could do.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

The Waupun Correctional Institution, the oldest prison in Wisconsin built in the 1850s, sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood (Photo | Wisconsin Examiner)

The State of Wisconsin Building Commission on Tuesday approved releasing $15 million to prepare preliminary plans and a design report for major changes to Wisconsin’s prison system requested by Gov. Tony Evers. Wisconsin prisons have long been criticized for aging facilities, overcrowding and deaths. 

Republican lawmakers on the commission complained that Evers has not incorporated their ideas in his plan, but the commission ultimately voted unanimously to release the money to pay for the first step in the process of realizing it. 

At a press conference before the Building Commission meeting, Rep. Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander) said Republican lawmakers’ goal is “to ensure we have the information needed” for informed decisions about facility upgrades, prison capacity and responsibly closing the Green Bay Correctional Institution. 

Money for the planning will come from the state budget, which included the $15 million released by the commission Tuesday.

Under the project, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections would be able to close the Green Bay Correctional Institution, the department’s request to the commission states. Upgrades would be made to infrastructure at five other facilities, including the troubled Waupun Correctional Institution. 

The aging Waupun and Green Bay prisons have generated a public outcry over living conditions, as well as the deaths of several people incarcerated at Waupun and criminal charges filed last year against Waupun staff. 

Republicans criticize Evers’ approach

“Currently, [the Department of Corrections] is in a world of hurt,” Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said at the Republicans’ press conference. She cited overcrowding at men’s and women’s facilities, facility infrastructure problems and the death of Lincoln Hills youth counselor Corey Proulx last year. 

Felzskowski referenced the prison proposal Evers put out in February and said he never reached out to the Legislature. 

“The Republicans in this building have plans, proposals that we’ve been working on for a long time, that we could’ve worked with the governor in a bipartisan fashion,” Felzskowski said.

Sen. André Jacque (R-New Franken) said that “what we have before us is, unfortunately, not a serious proposal.”

“…We look at a scenario where the governor says, ‘My way or the highway,’ when we know he’s not going to be in the governor’s mansion come 2027,” Jacque said, saying “it’s unfortunately a plan doomed to failure unless some additional steps are taken.”

Jacque attempted to add projects to the original motion: expansion of Taycheedah Correctional Institution, expansion of medium and minimum security beds at Jackson Correctional Institution and closure of Green Bay Correctional Institution by Dec. 31, 2029. But his motion failed with four members in favor and four opposed.

“Let’s just get something goddamn done here, please,” Evers said during the commission meeting. “…We got to fix the system, and we have an opportunity now.” In a statement, Felzkowski said she is cautiously optimistic following the building commission meeting and looks forward to “having productive conversations to move Wisconsin’s corrections system in the right direction.” 

What’s in the plan?

Under the project, the Waupun prison would become a medium security prison, and it would have upgraded housing units and  enhanced vocational programming. Gov. Tony Evers said he wants to revamp the prison into a “state-of-the-art ‘vocational village.’” 

The troubled Lincoln Hills School, which has remained open as a juvenile facility long after a deadline for closure has passed, would be converted to a 500-bed men’s medium security facility. 

Medium-security Stanley Correctional Institution, which is northeast of Eau Claire, would switch to maximum security, while John C. Burke Correctional Center in Waupun would become a women’s facility. Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center in northeast Wisconsin would receive housing expansion and kitchen replacement that would increase its capacity. 

The request to the commission included an anticipated budget and schedule, which put the total cost at $325 million and final completion in January 2031.  By releasing the planning money that had been included in the state budget, the eight-member commission, chaired by the governor and comprised of legislators from both parties, took the first step in the process. But Republicans and Evers continue to disagree on next steps. Evers promised Tuesday to include legislators in discussions throughout the process.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE