Food Aid Funding Gap Becomes Latest Venue for Shutdown Fight (1)

Lawmakers are leveraging the deadline for the nation’s largest food aid program to start running out of funds to pressure the opposition into ending the government shutdown.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Thursday blasted Democrats who “don’t seem to care” the federal government lacks enough money to distribute Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits fully to tens of millions of low-income individuals if the shutdown lasts beyond October.

“You’re talking about 42-or-43 million Americans that rely upon that vital service and it’s unconscionable that they would be held at bay, held as leverage on this,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s comments come after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins warned the anti-hunger program doesn’t have enough funds to meet demand next month. States have begun notifying SNAP participants that they’ll be forced to cut off benefits absent a federal cash injection before Nov. 1.

Read More: Food Stamp Funds to Dry Up If Shutdown Persists, USDA Warns

Republicans and Democrats have been eager to say the other should heed the potential lapse in food aid right before Thanksgiving as incentive to negotiate an end to the shutdown.

“There’s about $5 billion available in a contingency fund for emergency circumstances just like this, but the administration refuses to agree to use it,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Thursday. “Why? Because they want to starve the American people as part of their continuing effort to visit cruelty on everyday Americans.”

So far, USDA hasn’t committed to keep SNAP operational through November using contingency funds on hand or other measures such as tariff revenue the Trump administration used to keep a smaller nutrition program for infants and young mothers afloat through October.