SNAP provides food benefits for more than 40 million Americans, including more than a million children, families, seniors, and disabled adults in Georgia. Advocates warn that if the shutdown continues, food banks and community pantries will be pushed to the breaking point.

"Our state leaders should be planning to support Georgians who will lose SNAP if there is no federal action," Floyd said. "The state should support the emergency food system, like our food banks. However, food banks and community pantries can’t carry this burden alone.”

Food pantries in Georgia are bracing for impacts as benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, won’t be renewed in November.

Georgia Democrats are urging Gov. Kemp to use part of the state’s $14.6 billion surplus to prevent the cutoff.

Georgia’s SNAP administrators say they would need more than $60 million from state coffers to maintain their level of staffing after next year’s federal cuts to the program that more than one in 10 Georgians use for groceries.

Newly released internal DHS tallies show 2,207 case escalations last week alone — most flooding the state's call center — with more than a third repeat complaints amid ongoing SNAP delays.

Sen. Kemp announces a food and toy giveaway in Atlanta to aid families facing a nutritional deficit, with higher than expected registration highlighting the need.

Despite the impending cutoff of SNAP benefits, the WIC program remains funded for a while in Georgia, at least for a couple of weeks.