Senate Democrats clash with Republicans over SNAP food benefits funding as President Donald Trump’s administration warns the program will run out of money by Nov. 1.
Senate Democrats railed against Republicans’ and the Trump administration’s argument that the well had run dry on federal food stamp benefits, given that President Donald Trump funded the program during the last shutdown.
Over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned in a memo that because of the ongoing shutdown and lack of appropriations, funding for food stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), would run out by Nov. 1.
Despite there being an emergency contingency fund of roughly $5 billion, the USDA argued that the emergency funding was not « legally available. »
However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats argued at a press conference on Wednesday that Trump had funded SNAP during the last government shutdown in 2019. Trump’s then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that SNAP funding would be available while Washington was still in the throes of that partial government shutdown.
« They funded it under Trump in the last shutdown », Schumer said. « So don’t believe the bull. »
Both Senate Republicans and Democrats have made legislative efforts to avert the SNAP funding cliff, which, if not avoided on Saturday, would see 42 million people lose their food benefits.
