COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio will begin distributing partial SNAP benefits as early as Wednesday, the state said late Monday. This comes as the U.S. Senate is set to vote on a continuing resolution to reopen the government.
All recipients who’ve not yet received their November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, as well as individuals who were approved for, but not paid in October, will begin receiving their partial November benefit this week, the Department of Jobs and Family Services said.
ODJFS is required to reduce the maximum amount of SNAP benefits each household can receive in November by 35% and to recalculate each household’s payment based on that new amount. Some recipients may receive no benefits this week, the department said.
And after 41 days of the government being shut down, the Senate finally reached a deal to pass legislation that would provide backpay to federal workers, reverse layoffs and reinstate government benefits.
"We gotta stop thinking this is us against them and remember that we're here for our country," U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, a Republican representing District 14, told us earlier in the shutdown.
An official vote is set to take place late Monday.
"Military — those are the men and women who are out there 24 hours a day for us, a lot of them with young families, they've got to have support," U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, a Republican representing District 5, told us in October. "They don't have it when they don't have these paychecks.
Joyce and Latta were awaiting a compromise, which came Sunday evening.
But SNAP benefits are still in limbo for 1.4 million Ohioans.
“What’s on my card right now is from last month’s benefits,” said Janiah Gales, a Cleveland resident. “So I’m just trying to hold onto them as best as I can.”
RELATED: 'A ripple effect up the food chain': Grocers grapple with fallout from SNAP disruptions
Democratic U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, who represents District 13, blames the GOP for the struggles Americans are facing.
"This is a failure of the Congress led by Republicans, the White House led by Republicans and Donald Trump to come together and do the necessary work, the very basic work of funding our United States government," Sykes told us in an interview last month.
The resolution doesn’t address Sykes’ and the Democratic Party’s main goal — extending subsidies tied to the Affordable Care Act. This means healthcare premiums could go up.
“I was clear: any deal that could earn my support needed to lower costs and keep healthcare accessible and affordable. Our local economy relies on healthcare not only for our well-being, but also for jobs and economic growth. This deal does not get us there and leaves thousands of my constituents without healthcare and spending more money to live than they ever have. I will continue to fight to deliver the relief that families in Ohio’s 13th District and across the country deserve,” Sykes said in a statement Monday.
In addition, the nonpartisan research group Center for Community Solutions reports hundreds of thousands of Ohioans will be removed from Medicaid in 2027.
"It's going to kick off people from their healthcare coverage... specifically for Ohio's 13th district that relies upon health care systems to employ our neighbors and our friends and our family," the congresswoman said.
What the Democrats got in this deal was a promise of a vote in the coming weeks on the subsidies. But Latta doesn’t support them, citing Obamacare as too expensive.
"They want $1.5 trillion, and now they're saying the federal debt's gonna be going up to $38 trillion," Latta said.
The continuing resolution still has to officially pass the Senate and the House, but it appears likely to go through. It would only last until the end of January.
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