After President Donald Trump’s administration announced Monday that it would partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for November to comply with a federal court order, congressional Democrats unveiled a resolution demanding full funding for the SNAP benefits of 42 million Americans during the US government shutdown.
“Trump is using food as a weapon against children, families, and seniors to enact his ‘Make Americans Hungry Agenda,’” declared Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who is spearheading the measure with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“It’s unbelievably cruel, but Trump cares more about playing politics than making sure kids don’t starve,” he continued. “Kids and families are not poker chips or hostages. Trump must release the entirety of the SNAP funds immediately.”
The government shut down at the beginning of last month because the GOP majorities in Congress wanted to advance their spending plans, while Democrats in the Senate—where Republicans need some Democratic support to pass most legislation—refused to back a funding bill that didn’t repeal recent Medicaid cuts and extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Then, the Trump administration threatened not to pay out any SNAP benefits in November and claimed it couldn’t use billions of dollars in emergency funding to cover even some of the $8 billion in monthly food stamps. Thanks to a pair of federal lawsuits and Friday rulings, the US Department of Agriculture on Monday agreed to use $4.65 billion from the contingency fund to provide partial payments. However, the USDA refuses to use Section 32 tax revenue to cover the rest of what families are supposed to get, and absent an end to the shutdown—nearly the longest in US history—there’s no plan for any future payments.
“The Trump administration should stop weaponizing hunger for 42 million Americans and immediately release full—not partial—SNAP benefits,” Schumer said in a statement, after also speaking out on the Senate floor Monday. “As the courts have affirmed, USDA has and must use their authority to fully fund SNAP. Anything else is unacceptable and a half-measure. The Senate must pass this resolution, and Trump must end his manufactured hunger crisis by fully funding SNAP.”
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The resolution, which Merkley threatened to force a vote on as early as Monday night, states that the Trump administration “is legally obligated” to the use of the contingency fund for the program, “has the legal authority and the funds to finance SNAP through the month of November,” and should “immediately” do so.
The resolution—backed by all members of the Senate Democratic Caucus except Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania—stresses that “exercising this power is extremely important for the health and wellness of families experiencing hunger, including about 16,000,000 children, 8,000,000 seniors, 4,000,000 people with disabilities, and 1,200,000 veterans.”
Congresswomen Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) and Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) plan to introduce a companion resolution in the House of Representatives. Hayes noted Monday that “never in the history of the program has funding for SNAP lapsed and people been left hungry.”
Bonamici said that “the Trump administration finally agreed to release funding that Congress set aside to keep people from going hungry during a disruption like this shutdown, but it should not have taken a lawsuit to get these funds released. Now the House Republicans need to get back to Washington, DC and work to get the government back open.”
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