AUGUSTA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - Maine is now ranked dead last in processing applications for SNAP, also known as the food stamps program.
The federal government said the state is not in compliance with rules set forth for processing those applications in a timely manner and its now threatening to suspend or withhold federal dollars from the state.
In a scathing letter to DHHS the USDA's regional administrator Kurt Messner wrote "Maine's poor timeliness performance impacts SNAP clients across the state and must be addressed."
Critics claims that the delay is leaving children and seniors, hungry and waiting. State representative Drew Gattine is the house chair of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee. He said this is part of an ongoing pattern by DHHS to not comply with federal requirements.
"I think it absolutely says they aren't doing a good job. I've seen a lot of letters from the federal government. This one is particularly strongly worded", he said.
DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew blamed the slow down on the transition from a paper based to a computerized system and says the state is making positive strides to improve its ranking.
"One month after the USDA's review, the Department made timely decisions in 86 percent of its cases," said Mayhew. "And while I am concerned about the lack of timeliness in any case, I will not sacrifice the program's integrity for application expediency."
She also questioned the USDA's motivation for shining a spotlight on Maine, where the governor has been trying to make reforms to the food stamp program.
"I have serious concerns given what we have seen before, behaviors from the USDA, from the Food and Nutrition Services. They are clearly opposed to the reforms that this administration, that Governor LePage has been leading", she said.
Mayhew said her department will continue to carefully vet all applications to make sure people are not getting benefits that don't deserve them. DHHS has thirty days to respond to the USDA. That response must include an analysis of what's causing the timeliness issues and specific strategies to address them.
