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.

"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.”

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.

With a shutdown stalemate, Georgia Democrats push using the state surplus to bridge a lapse in SNAP benefits, while Republicans say the federal government must act.

ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is planning Thursday to announce an "emergency initiative" on SNAP, while Georgia Democrats are keeping up calls for state action with funding for the program, popularly known as food stamps, set to be cut off for November amid the government shutdown.

ATLANTA - Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has ordered an immediate pause on residential evictions and water shutoffs as the federal lapse in SNAP funding threatens to leave families without food assistance starting Nov. 1.

Georgia Head Start, WIC and SNAP programs - all benefitting kids - could lose funding if Congress does not reopen the government.

Time is running out for millions of Georgians who rely on SNAP, as a federal government shutdown threatens to halt benefits as soon as Saturday. More than 1.4 million