Gov. Wes Moore said Friday that he will not use state funds to help Marylanders who would be left without food assistance if the federal government allows benefits to start running out next week.

Moore, speaking to reporters at a food pantry in Bowie, said that without an assurance that the federal government will pay the state back after the shutdown ends, he won’t tap state money to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

“I have been clear that there is no state that has the balance sheet to cover when the federal government says: ‘You know what? We’re just going to leave you on your own,’” said Moore, a Democrat whose governing motto is “Leave No One Behind.”

Moore’s office said it repeatedly asked President Donald Trump’s administration about reimbursement for covering federal costs, but has not received any assurances of payment.

More than 680,000 Marylanders — 1 in 9 state residents — rely on SNAP to help keep food on the table. Their average benefit is $180 per month.

Without action from the state or federal government, those SNAP participants will have no help to pay for groceries in November. The federal government shutdown reached its 24th day on Friday with no resolution in sight as Congress remains deadlocked over spending.

Moore has said that Maryland and other states can’t afford to replace funding for key programs designed to be federal-state partnerships.

As the shutdown began on Oct. 1, Moore stood in the State House and indicated the state would step in and help.

“Federal programs administered by the state will continue to support working families through Medicaid, SNAP and TANF,” Moore said, using the acronym for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, a cash assistance program.

His team would “monitor” the situation and adjust as needed, said Moore, flanked by state and federal lawmakers.

The Moore Administration has said the state has $20 billion in funds, including $3.5 billion in fully liquid cash, that could be tapped for SNAP or other social safety net programs.

Maryland had expected to receive about $1.6 billion in federal money for SNAP recipients this year, or roughly $133 million per month.

SNAP benefits are issued to recipients on a rolling basis over the course of the month. Those initiated at the end of September were still hitting Marylanders’ accounts in October.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, sent a memo to all states on Oct. 10 instructing them not to request payments for November. Following that, the Moore administration warned that federal money would run dry starting Nov. 1.

Moore and advocates insist that the USDA is legally required to tap into a $6 billion contingency fund to keep SNAP payments going to the states. A USDA spokesperson did not respond to the question, only blaming Democrats for the funding lapse.

Sharon Parrott, president of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a watchdog group, called Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’s claim that her agency can’t deliver SNAP funds during a shutdown “unequivocally false.”

“In fact, the Administration is legally required to use contingency reserves,” she said in a statement calling on Rollins to release the billions of dollars in reserve funds already appropriated for low-income Americans’ grocery bills.

Trump’s administration has, however, found ways to fund priorities during the shutdown, keeping military troops paid and covering the Women Infants and Children nutrition program.

Empty SNAP accounts will ramp up pressure on federal lawmakers to resolve a partisan shutdown now in its fourth week. Democrats have said they won’t vote to reopen the federal government until Republicans negotiate an extension of subsidies for those who get health insurance through marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. So far neither side has budged.

With no end to the shutdown in sight, people in need of food assistance will soon be without critical resources.

“It’s the human cost of the shutdown,” said Joseph Llobrera, the center’s senior director of research for food assistance.

Aftershocks from food insecurity, such as poor public health outcomes for children and economic struggles, can ripple through communities, he said.

Food retailers, pharmacies, corner stores and chains around the state accept SNAP benefits. Some rely more on the revenue than others.

Advocates for ending food insecurity said Maryland is in a tough position with federal SNAP money running out.

“This is no governor’s fault,” said Ayesha Holmes, director of No Kid Hungry. “This is the fault of a political juggernaut in Washington.”

Without that guarantee of federal reimbursement, “there’s no way any state could cover the gap,” she said. “Even Maryland.”

LaMonika Jones, director of Maryland Hunger Solutions, said it’s “virtually impossible” for any state to bridge this gap for a sustained period of time. Even if Congress reopens government in early November, SNAP recipients will experience delays. The communication relay between state and federal agencies that puts money in the wallets of recipients takes time.

“It’s not like the flip of a switch,” she said.

Lorri Meadows gave the governor a tour of the Bowie Food Pantry on Friday, walking him through how volunteers pack bags of food and load them into clients’ cars.

The pantry has seen an increase in clients this year, due to federal worker layoffs and now the government shutdown. She’s already thinking about what happens in November if SNAP funding is cut off, hoping that the community will come through with donations to keep their neighbors fed.

“We’re going to be slammed at that point,” she said.