The City-County of Butte-Silver Bow declared a local emergency on Wednesday because of the loss of SNAP benefits, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program.

Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive JP Gallagher signed the proclamation, and local commissioners passed a corresponding emergency resolution to use $183,974 to alleviate food insecurity in the local community.

“Butte has gone through tough times, and people step up,” Gallagher told the Daily Montanan. “If the state and federal government aren’t going to step in, we’re going to do what we can with the resources we have.”

SNAP benefits, which roughly 77,000 Montanans receive, are entangled in political and legal battles in Washington, D.C., related to the federal shutdown.

In a Nov. 4 memo, the U.S. Department of Agricultur

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