OKLAHOMA CITY – While Democrats in the Oklahoma Legislature and several tribal officials called for a special session for supplemental nutritional funding, Republican leaders in the House and Senate said Friday the state’s Contingency Review Board would meet next week to address the issue.
Governor Kevin Stitt, Speaker of the House Kyle Hilbert, and Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton today announced Friday they will vote to make $1 million per week available to Oklahoma’s food banks serving all 77 counties for up to seven weeks, contingent upon lack of federal funding for SNAP during the Schumer Shutdown.
The funding will come after a Contingency Review Board meeting set for Monday evening. Once approved by the board and the appropriate state authorities, funds will become available for immediate deployment.
The plan prioritizes immediate support for vulnerable elderly, disabled, and child SNAP recipients while federal operations remain disrupted and, the group said, weekly allocations will be issued only if the federal shutdown impacts to SNAP continue and the prior week’s funds have been expended.
“Oklahomans always step up for each other in times of need, and together we’re making sure our most vulnerable neighbors have the resources they need to get through this unnecessary Schumer Shutdown,” the trio said in a joint media statement. “This targeted emergency support, alongside the tireless work of our local food banks, will provide weekly food provisions to elderly, disabled, and child SNAP recipients across our 77 counties during periods in which SNAP federal funding is unavailable. We encourage every business and nonprofit in the state to join us and be a neighbor to those in need during this time of uncertainty.”
The funding would come from the State Emergency Fund, which currently holds $7.8 million. The agreement comes amidst calls for a special session of the Legislature.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, asked the governor to call a special session so impoverished residents would have help buying food.
“We have an obligation to protect children,” Kirt said in a media statement. “The solutions offered by the governor are inadequate. He needs to call the Legislature into a special session to work on real and immediate solutions.”
Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the Governor or the Legislature, itself, can call a special session. Kirt said more than 680,000 Oklahomans could be cut off from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program if the shutdown continues.
Last week, Stitt called on Oklahomans, nonprofit organizations, food banks and religious groups to help. But Stitt pushed back against the idea of using the Rainy Day fund to cover the loss of federal SNAP funding.
Echoing Kirt, House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said her caucus wanted the Governor to act and help the nearly 700,000 Oklahomans — most of whom are children, veterans, and seniors — as SNAP benefits lapse starting.
“We have avenues to enact real solutions for Oklahomans. We can access up to $300M of our Rainy Day Funds, funds the Governor has bragged that we cannot add another dollar into because they are so full,” Munson said. “Both the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma have said that an additional $5.5M to each organization would help to double their efforts. There is one solution right there.”
Munson said lawmakers understand “that we do not have the means to completely make up for the lapse of SNAP benefits,” but she added there are ways to provide a temporary fix that could help buy Oklahomans time.
“Other states with Republican leadership are coming up with solutions,” she said. “Now is not the time to cling to White House talking points. It is time for Oklahoma leaders to stand up, lead, and serve Oklahomans.”
Like the Democrats, some tribal leaders want the state to use its reserve funds to cover SNAP costs. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said lawmakers should use the Rainy Day fund to “help Oklahomans to stem misery that (Stitt) did not cause.”
“This crisis, a product of failures in Washington, D.C., can be fixed at least in the short term, if we all pitch in,” Hoskin said in a media statement. “The state of Oklahoma should join us by immediately committing $142 million to save SNAP for Oklahomans through the end of November.”
Hoskin said his tribe has committed some of its surplus funding to help those residents who could lose SNAP benefits. He said the tribe is also providing $1.25 million to food banks and nonprofits.
Like the Cherokees, the Choctaw Nation announced Friday it is launching a Temporary Food Assistance Program for tribal members nationwide who will not receive federal SNAP benefits in November. The tribe said the initiative was part of the Choctaw Nation Sustainability Fund established in 2012 to support tribal members during times of need.
“Many of our members around the Nation rely on SNAP benefits to feed themselves and their families,” Chief Gary Batton said. “With the federal government temporarily unable to meet its obligations, we will look for ways to help tribal members in need.”
The debate over SNAP funding comes at the same time the state’s Department of Human Services announced it was furloughing 2,300 employees.
Officials with the agency said employees earning a salary of $100,000 or more would be furloughed three days per pay period while those earning $50,000 up to $100,000 will have two furlough days. Those earning less than $50,000 are exempt.
“This was an extremely difficult decision, and we recognize the hardship it places on our staff,” DHS said in a media statement. “The furlough plan is structured to maximize limited resources while prioritizing the protection and engagement of frontline staff. Oklahoma Human Services exists to provide critical services to our most vulnerable neighbors. Unfortunately, the ongoing federal shutdown has significantly impacted our ability to fulfill that mission without taking actions such as this.”
At the same time, a federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to distribute SNAP funds. According to the New York Times, the judge agreed with local officials and nonprofits that in their legal battle against stopping SNAP funding.
The newspaper said the ruling “was the second of two rulings in the span of about an hour that found the administration had acted unlawfully, after it had refused to tap an emergency reserve — enacted by Congress and totaling in the billions of dollars — to sustain the critical anti-hunger program.”
But it remained unclear, the newspaper reported, if or when food stamps would actually reach the roughly 42 million people who rely on monthly federal help to purchase groceries.
In Oklahoma, state lawmakers will return to the Capitol in February 2026 for the Second Session of the 60th Oklahoma Legislature.