Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced $4 million in state aid for food shelves at The Open Door in Eagan on Monday, Oct. 27, just hours after the USDA said SNAP funding has “run dry” from the shutdown.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz discusses the state’s ability to backfill SNAP funding losses during the federal government shutdown on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, at The Open Door in Eagan. (Mary Murphy / Forum News Service)
Walz said the $4 million boost from the state will not be enough to make up for the loss of federal SNAP funding.
“I want to be very clear: It will not make up and backfill everything that is going to drop off starting on Saturday (Nov. 1). We do not have that capacity,” he said. “We put out about $74 million a month in SNAP benefits, just so you know the scope and the scale of this. Those are Minnesota tax dollars that went to the federal government.”
In a press conference at the beginning of the shutdown, Minnesota Management and Budget Director Ahna Minge warned in early October that the state’s current available SNAP funding would run out by November. The shutdown, which has stretched 27 days as of Monday, is the second-longest in U.S. history.
The additional state funding also comes as Minnesota’s food shelves are seeing record visits, with 9 million in 2024 alone — a number that tops the early pandemic years. Walz said 440,000 Minnesotans are on SNAP benefits, 38% of them children and 18% seniors.
Jason Viana, Open Door executive director, said that before the shutdown began Oct. 1, the pantry was already helping about 30% more people than last year.
Jason Viana, director of The Open Door in Eagan, talks about the increasing need for food shelves and food pantries amid the federal government shutdown on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (Mary Murphy / Forum News Service)
“This shutdown and reducing benefits that are available to our clients are absolutely a step back that are going to be felt in households across the state of Minnesota. I will tell you that in our footprint, we have heard increased concern, anxiety from our families, and we are seeing more families than we’ve seen since 2020,” he said.
Tikki Brown, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families, said Monday the state tapped into existing funds from the Family First Prevention Services Act and emergency Department of Human Services funds to come up with the $4 million.
Brown said the money will be distributed to The Food Group, which will be tasked with distributing the funds throughout Minnesota’s roughly 300 food shelves, with the aim of prioritizing SNAP recipients.
Walz said most of the state’s money is not fungible and has already been appropriated for other reasons. He said he probably wouldn’t want to tap into the state’s rainy day fund — which has roughly $3 billion in untouched funds — and added that the Legislature would need to be called back to appropriate that money.
Brown said she received word from the USDA that any state funding disbursed to make up for SNAP funding losses would not be reimbursed.
“It’s Day 27. Doesn’t appear like there’s really any sense of urgency out of the folks in D.C.,” Walz said. “As this continues to go on, it will become much more of a crisis. And it may not feel like a crisis for some folks … but it will eventually all start to come home.”
Will you lose food benefits in November? Please contact reporter Molly Guthrey at mguthrey@pioneerpress.com to be interviewed for a story.
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