{"id":49184,"date":"2025-10-29T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=49184"},"modified":"2025-10-30T00:08:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T05:08:31","slug":"food-aid-for-42-million-imperiled-by-shutdown-politics-as-trump-tests-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=49184","title":{"rendered":"Food aid for 42 million imperiled by shutdown politics, as Trump tests law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Summary<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">SNAP benefits at risk this weekend amid government shutdown<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Senators blame each other for the impasse<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">USDA&#8217;s legal stance on SNAP funding questioned by lawmakers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) &#8211; Nearly 42 million people are set to lose food aid due to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/longest-us-government-shutdowns-2025-10-01\/\"><u>second-longest U.S. government shutdown<\/u><\/a>, as Democrats and Republicans in Congress continue to blame each other for a weeks-long legislative stalemate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Neither party was showing signs of changing its position days before funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, is set to lapse beginning on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The U.S. Department of Agriculture&#8217;s decision last week&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/usda-memo-says-it-will-not-use-emergency-funds-november-food-benefits-2025-10-24\/\"><u>not to draw on an emergency fund<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;to pay for part of November&#8217;s SNAP benefits is splitting senators, as Democrats argue the agency is legally required to spend the roughly $5.5 billion in contingency funds to maintain at least a portion of the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;The Trump administration is weaponizing hunger as a political bargaining chip,&#8221; said Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat overseeing food aid funding. &#8220;When it comes down to it, this is a choice.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Republicans say Senate Democrats are responsible for the shutdown because most have voted 13 times against a stopgap bill to reopen government, called a &#8220;CR&#8221; or continuing resolution, to force concessions from the Republican majority on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/usda-memo-says-it-will-not-use-emergency-funds-november-food-benefits-2025-10-24\/\"><u>healthcare issues<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;The Democrats should vote for a clean CR to open government, and that&#8217;ll take care of all these things,&#8221; said Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, the top Republican in charge of food aid appropriations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The White House&#8217;s Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>CUTS TO A BIPARTISAN PROGRAM<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The cost and breadth of U.S. food support is regularly debated in Congress, especially during renegotiation of the farm spending bill that funds SNAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Trump and Republicans&#8217; July&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/us-house-republicans-head-toward-final-vote-trumps-sweeping-tax-cut-bill-2025-07-03\/\"><u>tax and spending bill<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;expanded SNAP work requirements and increased state-specific costs. This has limited almost $200 billion in overall funding and could push some off the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Americans in every state&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/environment\/us-states-warn-food-aid-benefits-will-halt-if-federal-shutdown-drags-2025-10-23\/\"><u>rely on the federal benefits<\/u><\/a>. Of the top five states with the highest per capita SNAP beneficiaries, who represent more than 15% of the population, three are represented by Republican senators: Louisiana, Oklahoma and West Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This week, Republican Senator Josh Hawley pushed a standalone bill to fund SNAP in November, which garnered some bipartisan co-sponsors by Tuesday, followed by Senate Democratic leaders announcing their own version. However, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune questioned why the chamber should vote on such a bill after a similar targeted bill to pay federal workers during the shutdown failed last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>LEGAL U-TURN AT THE USDA<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">SNAP benefits have been distributed in past shutdowns, including the longest in history during Trump&#8217;s first term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">At the time, Trump&#8217;s USDA officials argued to Congress&#8217; nonpartisan watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, that contingency funds could be used for benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The agency repeated that position in a September 30 plan, released by the USDA in advance of the current shutdown, but that plan was no longer visible on the USDA website. Instead, a website banner blames Democrats for failing to fund SNAP at the expense of backing healthcare for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and &#8220;gender mutilation procedures.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;That&#8217;s just a red herring,&#8221; said Senator Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, about the department&#8217;s message. &#8220;They&#8217;re using people who need SNAP to put food on the table as a bargaining chip, and that&#8217;s just terrible.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">On the merits of the department&#8217;s argument, Senator Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the appropriations committee, told reporters she believes the USDA&#8217;s &#8220;novel interpretation&#8221; of the spending law was forced by the Office of Management and Budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The USDA said in a memo the contingency fund is meant for unplanned expenses like natural disasters. But on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins noted the open debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;We can talk legalistics, and is it legal, and can we move this money, and is that $5 billion available, and is it not,&#8221; Rollins said on CNN, &#8220;But all it takes is a &#8216;yes&#8217; on a continuing resolution to keep the government going.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Cindy Long, national adviser at professional services firm Manatt and 30-year USDA veteran who helped lead nutrition programs, said the agency in the past had routinely planned to draw on the contingency funds for benefits if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Attorneys general and governors from 25 Democratic-led states&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/states-sue-over-trump-administration-suspending-food-benefits-during-shutdown-2025-10-28\/\"><u>sued the USDA<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;on Tuesday to issue SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;The Trump administration has been taking away both sides of the power of the purse,&#8221; said Georgetown University law professor David Super, an appropriations expert. &#8220;They&#8217;ve been refusing to spend money Congress has directed them to spend, and they&#8217;ve been spending money without any appropriation.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/healthcare-pharmaceuticals\/millions-face-food-aid-cliff-us-government-shutdown-standoff-2025-10-29\/\">reuters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) &#8211; Nearly 42 million people are set to lose food aid due to the&nbsp;second-longest U.S. government shutdown, as Democrats and Republicans in Congress continue to blame each other for a weeks-long legislative stalemate. Neither party was showing signs of changing its position days before funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":49185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5780],"tags":[4737,1612,2891,5807,1230],"class_list":["post-49184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-livehood","tag-food-aid","tag-law","tag-politics","tag-shutdown","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49186,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49184\/revisions\/49186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}