WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican congressional leaders said Wednesday it was all or nothing as they rejected a Democratic push to provide food aid to more than 40 million Americans who risk losing it amid the government shutdown.
Democrats have repeatedly voted against reopening the government and demanded Republicans negotiate with them to extend expiring health care subsidies. However, they pushed for expedited passage of legislation to continue funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the meantime.
“It’s simple, it’s moral, it’s urgent,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he called for passage of SNAP funding on Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., angrily rejected the Democrats’ request, calling it “a cynical attempt to give Democrats political cover” so they can continue the shutdown, now in its 29th day.
“We’re not going to let them pick winners and losers,” Thune said. “It’s time to fund everyone.”
If Democrats want to prevent damage from the shutdown, “they can end the shutdown,” Thune said.
The increasingly pointed comments from lawmakers on Capitol Hill reflected growing frustration and pressure as the SNAP deadline approaches and federal workers face missed paychecks this week.
Vulnerable families could also soon see federal funding arid up for some other programs — from certain Head Start preschool programs to helping mothers care for their newborns through the Special Nutritional Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC.
Another group at risk from the shutdown — military personnel — won’t miss a paycheck Friday as the Trump administration plans to tap existing accounts to cover their payroll.
The SNAP deadline is looming for millions of Americans
The Department of Agriculture posted on its website that SNAP benefits will end Friday. “The bottom line is that the well has run dry,” the statement said.
Nearly two dozen states have filed suit, arguing that President Donald Trump’s administration has the money to continue the benefits and is required by law to do so. Schumer said that SNAP benefits never stopped during previous government shutdowns and that Trump is “putting politics over the lives of hungry children.”
Republican leaders, in turn, blamed Democrats. They said the solution would be for Senate Democrats to allow passage of their short-term funding patch, which has failed 13 times in that chamber so far.
“Things are getting harder and harder for the American people,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday.
The standoff and blame game continues
The House has not been in session since mid-September, and Johnson is adamant he will not reconvene the chamber until the Senate passes a bill to fund the government. The House of Representatives passed the bill on September 19th.
Senate Democrats have shown no public signs of giving up on their insistence that a federal funding bill include aid for millions of Americans who buy health insurance coverage on the exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act.
Still, Thune told reporters that there had been a “higher level of discussions” with Democrats this week and that he may get personally involved soon.
But the underlying dynamics of the impasse remained the same. Thune said he assured Democrats from the start that they could vote on a bill to expand health care subsidies “as soon as they are ready to open the government.”
Effects of the shutdown
In addition to SNAP benefits, several other government services would face critical shortfalls if the shutdown continues.
Air traffic controllers missed their paychecks on Tuesday and Transport Minister Sean Duffy raised concerns that flight delays could multiply as increasingly stressed air traffic controllers call in unwell.
The military’s pay was also in question on Friday. But the Trump administration plans to withdraw about $5.3 billion from various accounts to cover it, with about $2.5 billion coming from Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful” tax relief bill that took effect this summer.
The transmissions were first reported by Axios and confirmed by a senior White House official who was not authorized to discuss the situation and granted anonymity.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the shutdown could reduce GDP growth by up to 2 percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2025. However, the CBO said it expects much of the halted spending on government salaries and programs to be made up once the government reopens.
SNAP patches get stuck
In a press conference, House Democrats called on Trump to return from his trip to Asia to address the SNAP issue.
“If the president wanted to help feed hungry American children, he would,” said Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over the food aid program. “I call on the president to return from Asia and do the right thing – and the moral thing.”
As Republicans objected to legislation to maintain SNAP benefits, Democrats said they would also support a similar bill from Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has separate legislation to immediately fund the program.
But Thune said Republicans would not allow a gradual process. He urged Democrats to support their bill to extend all federal funding and reopen the government.
“If Democrats really want to fund SNAP and WIC, we have a bill for them,” he said.
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves and Matt Brown contributed to this report.
