By Doug Reardon

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - State Democratic lawmakers called on Gov. Brian Kemp to call a rare special legislative session Monday as food assistance benefits dried up because of the government shutdown.

The shutdown entered its 27th day on Monday, making it the second longest in American history behind the 35-day closure of the federal government in 2019.

Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Human Services announced the lack of funding would lead to the expiration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, sometimes colloquially referred to as food stamps.

“That means Georgia families may lose access to food assistance within days,” said state Sen. Nikki Merritt (D- Grayson). “We cannot allow this to happen.”

Merritt, flanked by other state Democrats, as well as Congressional members Reps. Lucy McBath and Hank Johnson, urged Kemp to bring lawmakers back to the Capitol to find a way to fund SNAP benefits.

Their suggestion: dip into the state’s roughly $14 billion reserve fund.

“We have been imploring him, since there’s no longer federal funding for these programs, please utilize the surplus that we have to make sure that our families don’t go hungry,” said McBath, who authored a letter to Kemp asking him to use the state’s reserve to prop up SNAP.

Kemp’s office told Atlanta News First last week that the governor doesn’t have the ability to unilaterally direct those funds, nor do they think it’s possible to use state dollars to fund a federal program.

The office, when reached for additional comment on Monday, referred back to Kemp’s statement on the shutdown, which he posted online Friday.

“As the impacts of the Schumer shutdown are becoming clearer for Georgians, Democrats like Senators Ossoff and Warnock still refuse to do their jobs and open the government,” Kemp wrote. “It is past time for D.C. Democrats to pass the continuing resolution they previously voted for 13 times when Joe Biden was president and get back to working for the people of our state.”

Activists also made the call last week for Kemp to find a way to use the reserve funds to backfill the funding gaps in SNAP.

Democratic state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes even urged the governor to declare a state of emergency to provide access to the reserve money and “provide the necessary resources to offer temporary relief for Georgia’s most vulnerable families including 640,000 children.”

“A state of emergency declaration would enable the governor’s administration to allocate these funds quickly, ensuring continued food support for SNAP recipients until federal operations resume,” Parkes wrote.

As many prepared for the disappearance of their benefits – sometimes hundreds a month that act as a family’s only source of grocery money – food banks and other nonprofits that provide hunger assistance worried that they may not be able to keep up.

Merritt expressed concern that even the last-line resources for feeding people may be in trouble themselves.

“I got word today that the Atlanta Community Food Bank is running out of food and are down to just bread at this point,” she said Monday.

Demetria Henderson, executive director of the nonprofit group Women’s International Grail, said she’s had to make adjustments to her upcoming giveaways as partners have their own issues and the need across Atlanta grows by the day.

Henderson has utilized SNAP benefits before as a young mother and family provider, and said she appreciates the important role they play in helping families get by. Sometimes the difference between having food or not, she’s worried what people on the benefits might do to keep their families fed if the program isn’t funded soon.

“And now someone has to go into a store and steal the food or go to jail because they’re just trying to eat,” she said, with a message to federal lawmakers. They don’t know what it’s like to go hungry. They can split the baby in half and just meet in the middle because there are some very vulnerable people that will suffer because of this.”

For more information, including a FAQ about SNAP benefits and the government shutdown, click here.