{"id":17528,"date":"2025-10-23T20:08:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=17528"},"modified":"2025-10-23T20:08:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:08:13","slug":"local-elected-officials-decry-the-loss-of-snap-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/23\/local-elected-officials-decry-the-loss-of-snap-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Elected Officials Decry the Loss of SNAP Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LC Commissioners Pete Gerken and Lisa Sobecki<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Truth Staff<\/em><\/p>\n

Because of the ongoing federal government shutdown that began on October 1, supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits which 42 million Americans receive will end on November 1, the government announced last week.<\/p>\n

Local elected officials responded on Monday, October 20 to express their anger and displeasure over the federal government\u2019s actions and to plead with voters to pressure state government officials to make up the SNAP losses with rainy day funds.<\/p>\n

In a press conference organized by the Lucas County Commissioners and attended by over 80 supporters of the action including elected officials, union members and representatives from organizations such as The Movement, Area Office on Aging, United Way, NAACP, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to say \u2018no,\u2019\u201d said Lisa Sobecki, president of the Board of Lucas County Commissioners, as she led off the press conference denouncing the planned program cuts. \u201cThis is about feeding our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Lucas County, 40,056 adults and 31,497 children receive SNAP benefits \u2013 16,63 percent of the total county population<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are asking is that the State of Ohio dip into its stabilization fund \u2013 rainy day fund \u2013 to bring that money home,\u201d she added. \u201cOur food banks have already been stressed by lack of funding, it is time for Ohio to lead and not be like other states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Pete Gerken blasted the federal government for shutting down the program that benefits the most needy in the nation and the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s not get this twisted, this is political. This government shutdown affects everyone,\u201d he said. \u201cFirst they don\u2019t want to give people health care,\u201d he said of the Republican decision makers in DC, \u201cthen they don\u2019t want to give them food.\u201d<\/p>\n

It costs $13.1 million a month to maintain the SNAP benefits locally, not the amount of money that local governments can keep up with. Nevertheless, \u201cin Lucas County we are going to help each other,\u201d Gerken said announcing a planning committee to be formed that will deal with the upcoming crisis. \u201cThis is a crisis we didn\u2019t ask for but we are going to stand up for those [in need].\u201d<\/p>\n

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur also spoke on Monday and assailed the Republican initiative that created the current crisis \u2013 the passage of the Big Beautiful Bil, or, as she terms it, the \u201cBillionaires\u2019 Bailout Bill,\u201d that passed earlier this year that will cut healthcare benefits under the Affordable Care Act drastically.<\/p>\n

Of her fellow Democratic Party colleagues in their desire to maintain ACA benefits, she said, \u201cwe have to change the fundamental alignment from last spring when the Billionaires\u2019 Bailout Bill was passed; we are standing firm but the true cost of this administration is lethal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure the people in Columbus know we are not playing,\u201d said state Senator Paula Hicks-Hudson as she urged people to \u201ccall, text, write folks in Columbus\u201d in order to have those rainy days funds (that fund sits at about $350 million) released to local entities. \u201cWe need your voices, we need your help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also speaking at the event were the three local Democratic Ohio House representatives \u2013 Elgin Rogers, Erika White and Michele Grim \u2013 who spoke of the need to pass House Bill 502 which will assist local governments with the funding problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s inhuman, and inhumane, not to make sure that people in our community are fed,\u201d said White during her remarks.<\/p>\n

Rogers urged people \u201cto get out and vote for those people who are going to impact your lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz also noted the impact on healthcare that the BBB will have. \u201cWhen it passed, this meant that more people lost their health care than on any other day in history.\u201d He added that the total impact of the BBB on the City of Toledo is a loss of $100 million in funding.<\/p>\n

If there was one sentence that expressed the mood of many of the members of the large crowd, it was quite possibly Sobecki\u2019s opening statement: \u201cI\u2019m mad as hell!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Truth Staff Because of the ongoing federal government shutdown that began on October 1, supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits which 42 million Americans receive will end on November 1, the government announced last week. Local elected officials responded on Monday, October 20 to express their anger and displeasure over the federal government\u2019s actions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[250,252],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[317],"class_list":["post-17528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17531,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17528\/revisions\/17531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17528"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=17528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}