RICHMOND, VA — Today, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced the rescission of Executive Order No. 54 and formally declared the end of the State of Emergency issued in response to the lapse in federal appropriations that halted the disbursement of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for Virginians in need.
The Governor also thanks the Virginia Department of Social Services, Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, Virginia Department of Accounts and the Secretariats of Health and Human Resources and Finance for their quick and tireless work in setting up the Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance (VENA) effort which was designed to back fill SNAP benefits during the shutdown.
Ultimately, the initiative covered the equivalent of a week of the November benefit for SNAP-eligible Virginians who had been enrolled prior to the shutdown. Virginia was the only state in the nation able to establish such a response to provide replacement benefit to those in need.
“Today, we close this chapter of an extraordinary emergency response in Virginia. We said we would protect the vulnerable and make sure hungry Virginians in need were not used as leverage, and we kept that promise,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “Virginia’s robust job growth and record business investment have delivered significant budget surpluses that enabled us to replace SNAP benefits with this parallel system and avoid major interruptions to these essential services.”
“I offer my highest commendation to the public servants at the state and local Virginia Departments of Social Services, the Department of Accounts, and Department of Planning and Budget, as well as the Secretary of Finance Steve Cummings and Secretary of Health and Human Resources Janet V. Kelly and their teams for their round-the-clock effort to do what no other state was truly able to do to protect their most needy.”
Click here to view Executive Order 56, which rescinds EO 54.
