The US Capitol. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday called on Republican leaders to pass a bill to expand urgently needed food aid to the most vulnerable Americans during the ongoing government shutdown.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Democrats would support one independent invoice introduced by GOP Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley. And New Mexico Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján tried to unanimously pass his bill to fund two major food assistance programs.
“Let’s end this hunger crisis before it starts,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune rejected Luján’s proposal, and the government shutdown entered its fifth week, with lawmakers from both parties showing no sign that a deal is needed to reopen the government in a timely manner and avoid an exodus of 42 million people Danger of losing Your Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will benefit on Saturday.
Beneficiaries of SNAP, which covers low-income people, children and people with disabilities, are scheduled to receive payments on Nov. 1. But the shutdown and the Trump administration’s assertion that it cannot release emergency funding to cover the cost of the November benefits mean many will go without.
Democrats held several press conferences on Wednesday, the 29th day of the shutdown, and raised concerns about the Loss of SNAP benefits and pointed criticism of the US Department of Agriculture because I didn’t knock added to its multi-year emergency fund to authorize food aid for November.
The move has led to states scrambling to provide aid. tense local tables and has led to a lawsuit this week by dozens of state officials to force the agency to release funds for SNAP.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, urged Thune, a South Dakota Republican, to send Hawley’s bill to the Senate for a vote. The bill would fund SNAP during the funding shortfall.
Thune refuses to submit independent bills
But Thune declined to consider bills to fund individual programs during the shutdown. He has instead pushed for Democrats to agree to a House-passed GOP measure to temporarily reopen the government.
“We’re not going to pick winners and losers,” he said after objecting to Lujan’s bill. “It’s time to support everyone suffering the pain of this shutdown.”
Thune said on the Senate floor that he would only call another vote on the House-passed stopgap measure for Republicans if Senate Democrats “tell me they have enough votes to fund the government.”
The Senate this week, for the 13th timefailed to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance a measure to extend state funding through Nov. 21.
Democrats voted against the short-term funding bill for this reason to initiate negotiations on tax credits This expires at the end of the year for people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Republicans said those talks could begin as soon as the administration has the necessary resources.
Open enrollment for the ACA Marketplace begins November 1 in most states. Democrats have predicted that when people get quotes for health insurance, they will see significantly higher prices for it Out-of-pocket premiumsit will force Republicans to negotiate tax credits.
“We are just days away from a health crisis,” Schumer said.
Shutdown should be “very real”.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a morning news conference that the government shutdown will become “very real” Saturday when the federal government stops paying out SNAP benefits.
“You’re talking about tens of millions of Americans who are at risk of going hungry if Senate Democrats continue this move,” Johnson said.
The Republican from Louisiana, the voted against The Emergency Expenditure Bill The House that ended the 2018-2019 shutdown repeatedly called on rank-and-file Democratic senators to “do the right thing.”
“I think Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are irredeemable at this point,” Johnson said, referring to the top Democrats in both chambers. “I gave up leadership. So we’re trying to appeal to a handful of moderates or centrists who care more about the American people and who will put the people’s interests above their own and do the right thing in the Senate.”
Johnson also made disparaging comments a lawsuit filed by Democratic attorneys general asking a federal judge to order the disbursement of SNAP funding during the government shutdown.
“Instead of taking a simple vote to fund the government, as Senate Democrats have now had more than a dozen opportunities to do, Democratic attorneys general are suing the federal government to try to force the payment of SNAP benefits even though the government is closed and despite there being no money to do so,” Johnson said.
SNAP emergency fund freeze questioned
Luján held up a printed copy of the USDA’s Sept. 30 shutdown emergency plan during an early afternoon press conference and said the agency’s refusal to tap its emergency funds for SNAP recipients was nonsensical.
He criticized the agency for removing its own contingency plan from its website, which confirms that in the event of a funding shortfall, the USDA would utilize its roughly $6 billion in emergency funds to cover SNAP benefits during a government shutdown.
“This is the bullshit that knocks down these plans to lie to the American people and justify why it’s OK for people to go hungry,” Luján said.
Lujans The invoice that he sought to obtain approval through unanimous consent would have funded SNAP during a government shutdown as well as the USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
The Senate Agriculture Committee’s top Democrat, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, said Democrats are prepared to support Lujan’s bill or Hawley’s bill. She added that she and several other Democrats plan to co-sponsor Hawley’s bill. So far, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont is the only Democrat to co-sponsor the bill.
The 10 Senate Republicans who co-sponsored Hawley’s bill include Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted of Ohio, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and John Cornyn of Texas.
Colorado Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse argued during a midday news conference that Trump administration officials “made a conscious and deliberate decision to suspend SNAP benefits.”
“It is outrageous that the Trump administration can find $40 billion to save Argentina and refuses to spend the money Congress appropriated to feed starving families in America,” Neguse said.
Angie Craig, D-Minn., ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, said the SNAP emergency fund bill was “clear and unambiguous” and that Trump’s “actions demonstrate a pattern of callous disregard for America’s hungry seniors, children and veterans.”
Craig said the USDA should utilize the emergency fund to pay for the bulk of November benefits. The department should then utilize some of the $23 billion in another account called Section 32 to cover the rest of the costs, Craig said.
Craig also pushed back against criticism of SNAP, saying it provides about $6.20 a day for groceries.
“That doesn’t come close to covering most American families for one trip to the grocery store per month, especially since this administration has launched a trade war that is driving up costs for everyone in our country,” Craig said. “So that’s exactly the point.”
The shutdown is likely to harm the economy
Due to the impact on federal programs such as SNAP and overdue paychecks for federal employees, The ongoing shutdown is expected to have a negative impact on the economy, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Director Phillip L. Swagel wrote an eight-page letter House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said the funding shortfall “will delay federal spending and have negative impacts on the economy that will be largely, but not completely, reversed once the shutdown ends.”
The federal government spent $33 billion less than in the first four weeks of the shutdown. The six-week funding shortfall would result in a $54 billion drop in spending, and if it lasts eight weeks, it would result in the federal government having to pump $74 billion less into the economy.
“These amounts include deferred expenses for employee compensation, goods and services, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” Swagel wrote. “CBO expects that when appropriations resume, spending not incurred during the shutdown will be made up.”
Swagel warned that the forecasts are “subject to significant uncertainty.”
“The impact of the shutdown will depend on decisions the government makes during the shutdown, including decisions about which executive branch activities will continue and which will cease.”
