Despite rulings, SNAP recipients still face uncertainty, while Dems savor election wins

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Three weeks of this Saturday newsletter that start with SNAP. It's a record — like another one that was set this week when the federal government shutdown became the longest in U.S. history.

The rollercoaster storyline of SNAP benefits took several turns on Friday, fueling uncertainty for 42 million people across the country, including about one million in Massachusetts, who remain caught in the middle.

Late Friday evening, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily halted a Rhode Island judge’s order requiring the administration to fully fund November’s SNAP benefits by day’s end. Earlier in the day, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the White House’s emergency request to block that same order.

By Friday afternoon, the USDA told state agencies in a memo it was working toward implementing full November payments in compliance with the court’s directive. Around the same time, Gov. Maura Healey issued a press release directing full SNAP benefits to be paid as early as Saturday.

Healey this week said funds are also running out for federal programs pertaining to heating assistance, child care, and nutrition assistance for women and children. She spent much of the week speaking up for safety net programs.

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On Thursday, Healey put on her pro-business hat and pitched Massachusetts to investors as a drama-free zone. 

"I think we have the most stable leadership in the state when you look at our ability to collaborate, to work together. Treasurer, governor, both chambers of our Legislature, our relationship with our federal delegation, with our local officials,” Healey said at the Massachusetts Investor Conference in the Seaport. “I don't think you're going to have a tighter, more consistent, more cohesive, no acrimony, no drama setup in any other state in the country.”

State House insiders were chuckling about the "no drama" comment, perhaps reflecting on the last several legislative sessions or the stalemate over a legislative audit, but Healey is right in the respect that when Democrats are unified and are collaborating in Massachusetts they have the numbers to do what they want.

Healey adopted a different tone during an "Ask the Governor" radio segment.  

"Your boss, your leader in chief, is taking you all down, and you got midterms next year. Read the room. This isn't working for people," Healey barked at any Republicans listening to "Boston Public Radio." 

She and Democrats across the country called the party's wins in Tuesday's elections a "referendum" on Trump, who suggested he was not sure if the Democrat wins were "good for anybody."

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A UMass/WCVB poll released Monday shed some light on a different contest, between incumbent U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and Congressman Seth Moulton. The poll placed Markey, who will be 80 years old by the time the 2026 midterms come around, with significant advantage over Moulton. There's another name being whispered in the arena: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who hasn't ruled out a run for Senate. 

Out of UMass on Friday, another poll: 43% of 800 Bay Staters surveyed during a span of October think Massachusetts is headed down the "wrong track." And 44% of those respondents rated the state's economy as either "excellent" or "good," which pollsters point to as the lowest number since June 2022 and economic proof as to why people here might be questioning the state's trajectory. 

On Beacon Hill, lawmakers are entering the stretch run before they start a weeks-long slower period on Nov. 19. Between bills targeting data privacy, cannabis reform, military families and home care, it's not clear what — if anything — will pop before they break from their pattern of once-a-week formal sessions.

Eyes are laser-focused on the spending bill to close the books on fiscal year 2025, and the committee negotiating that bill -- which is slated to plug MassHealth with about $2 billion -- met for the first time Monday.

Comptroller William McNamara who wrote to Healey, finance officials and legislative budget writers that lawmakers' chronic tardiness could pose even more trouble on the federal funds front.

As has become typical due to legislative lollygagging, McNamara’s office missed the Oct. 31 deadline to file its Statutory Basis Financial Report with regulators, which it depends on to produce other key reports like the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and the federal Single Audit.

"The federal government may choose to slow or withhold federal funds if the Commonwealth fails to comply with long-established requirements and deadlines related to the ACFR and Single Audit," McNamara wrote this week. "Unlike other current concerns about federal funding to the states, our ability to produce required reporting in a timely fashion is within our control."

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KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller's guest is Shannon O’Brien, chair of the Cannabis Control Commission.

@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Dr. Jon Santiago, the outgoing veteran services secretary.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. The guest is Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who won a second four-year term on Tuesday.

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Procurement Support Analyst, Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General

Associate Counsel, Massachusetts Association of REALTORS

Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services

Program Officer – Development & Communications, LISC Massachusetts

Senior Auditor, Audit, Oversight and Investigation, Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General

Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General

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