Muriel Bowser complains her hand was forced by legal threats to sign off on SNAP boost

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser expressed her frustration in having to sign off on a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program boost, complaining that her hand was forced.

After touting the city’s success in business investments at The Square in Washington, D.C., Bowser took a noticeable change in tone when taking questions from reporters, when asked about her decision to approve a boost in SNAP payments after previously expressing hesitation. When asked what made her change her mind, she gave a blunt response.

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Brady Knox

“I really haven’t changed my mind,” she said. “I continue to be concerned about a budget maneuver that I think is not a good idea. But the council has indicated, by saying that they would sue us, that they’re not interested in talking about alternatives. So if they’re not interested to talk about alternatives, then we have to move forward.”

She then contrasted her administration’s “good faith” efforts with the inflexibility of the council.

Bowser then went into her rationale behind the opposition to the SNAP boost, arguing that the increase will only be temporary and of only a small impact, and could’ve been spent more effectively elsewhere.

“The rationale was — we have a lot of pressures in that cluster, in a short-term increase in a benefit that’s fairly modest,” she said. “Most people, for example, that receive SNAP benefits will see a $30 increase, and that will be temporary. It will be from January to September, and then in September, it’ll go back.”

“So the rationale, Sam, was that we have a bigger bang for that money in another program that helps other people,” Bowser continued. “So this is legally how that happens. And things happen, changes in budgets all the time. That’s not unusual. We will submit a reprogramming request to the council, and then we will proceed spending the money differently. The council can say yes or no. We didn’t get to that point because they indicated that by virtue of saying they would sue us that they don’t want to have that conversation.”

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When asked by a reporter why she agreed to the SNAP boost if she thought it was such a bad idea, Bowser replied, “You know what, I shouldn’t have.”

The scuffle is over the allocation of $40 million of excess Washington, D.C., funds to the city’s SNAP benefits, which services 140,000 residents. After Bowser expressed hesitation to pass the increase, she was threatened with a lawsuit. In response, the mayor announced she would implement the increase on Wednesday.