Department of Human Services Commissioner Clarence Carter told the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee on Oct. 30 that a federal government shutdown would immediately disrupt Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments for Tennessee and urged community organizations and local partners to step in while the state explores options.

Immediate SNAP impact: Carter said TennCare's DHS manages eligibility and a vendor loads benefits to EBT cards using federal lines of credit. If the federal government remains shut, the agency cannot load new benefits and "as of Saturday" roughly 690,000 SNAP recipients would not have their October benefits loaded; the state's monthly SNAP liability is about $145 million. Carter said the state cannot use the federal EBT mechanism to load benefits from state-only funds because the card distribution is tied to federal credit lines.

Practical consequences and response: DHS has worked with the governor's office and faith- and community-based partners and posted an up-to-date list of feeding resources at FeedTennessee.org. Carter and members urged churches, food banks and nonprofits to coordinate local distributions while the federal situation is unresolved; DHS said it is exploring all potential short-term measures but described alternatives as complex and time-consuming.

TANF reserves and pilots: Commissioner Carter described the prior TANF unobligated balance of about $700 million that DHS and the administration spent down and redirected to programs. He detailed seven TANF pilots (two per grand division plus one agency-led project) testing approaches to reduce dependency and smooth the so-called "benefits cliff". Pilots remain active through the following year with final impact reports due in December; DHS allocated $1 million for each pilot’s wind-down and some pilots requested additional closeout support.

Childcare and summer nutrition: Carter said the department funded a state-run summer feeding program with $3 million that served about 18,000 children, leaving about 5% unspent. He also described an unexpected federal reduction to the Child Care and Development Fund (about $44 million) tied to how the Food and Nutrition Service calculated free-and-reduced-lunch metrics; the state is seeking clarification. DHS said Smart Steps currently has about 8,000 families on a waiting list and noted options such as employer partnerships and grant-funded new childcare slots have increased capacity by roughly 20,000 over recent years.

Payment accuracy: Members discussed SNAP payment error rates and related federal penalties tied to program accuracy; DHS reported a payment error rate around 9.47% in the latest year and is working to reduce that rate below the 6% threshold to avoid federal financial penalties beginning in fiscal 2027.

Attribution: Quotations and numerical figures in this article are drawn from Commissioner Clarence Carter's presentation and Q&A with committee members during the Oct. 30 hearing.