Food Stamps At Risk As Government Shutdown Continues
Food Stamps At Risk As Government Shutdown Becomes 2nd Longest In History
As of Wednesday, the government has been shut down for 22 days, making it the second-longest government shutdown in U.S. history. As millions of Americans are at risk of losing their food stamps, Democrats and Republicans seem no closer to a deal that would bring the government shutdown to an end.
According to the Washington Post, over 42 million Americans receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. Food stamps help lower-income Americans supplement their food budget to ensure their families have adequate access to food. New Jersey, California, Texas, and several other states have warned that November SNAP benefits will be delayed or entirely canceled if the government shutdown continues past Oct. 27. Some states, like Pennsylvania, have already notified SNAP recipients that November benefits will not be distributed until the government reopens.
“You’re talking about millions and millions of vulnerable families — of hungry families—that are not going to have access to these programs because of this shutdown,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said last week.
There’s also concern that schools won’t be able to provide federally funded free lunches to students, according to NPR. While the USDA sent states a contingency plan ahead of the shutdown to inform them of funds they could tap into to provide free lunches, they haven’t said if they would be willing to advance funds to provide free lunches should the shutdown continue into November.
While the Senate has held several failed votes on funding the government, it’s unclear if a vote will be held on Wednesday, as CBS News reports that Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has been speaking on the Senate floor for over 18 hours. Merkley, whose state is one of several where Trump has deployed the National Guard, has largely been speaking out against Trump’s descent into authoritarianism.
“I’ve come to the Senate floor tonight to ring the alarm bells,” Merkley said at the start of his speech. “We’re in the most perilous moment, the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War. President Trump is shredding our Constitution.”
The government shutdown began at the start of October when Senate Democrats refused to vote on a spending bill that would keep the government open. While Republicans hold the majority in the House and Senate, spending bills require 60 votes in the Senate to pass. As the Republicans have a 53-45 majority, Senate Democrats have some rare leverage in the shutdown. At the heart of the shutdown are expiring subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will result in significantly increased health care premiums for millions of Americans.
Republicans have refused to negotiate on the issue until the government is reopened, and Democrats refuse to reopen the government until the issue is negotiated. House Majority Speaker John Thune offered the Senate Democrats a vote on extending the subsidies, but they have scoffed at the offer, as it’s fairly obvious Republicans will likely vote no on the measure.
It’s crazy how the GOP will look the other way when we send billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Argentina, fund a genocide in Palestine, and spend millions on private jets for Kristi Noem and her DHS lackeys, but making health care affordable for working Americans is where they draw the line. It’s really not a complicated issue: the Republican Party hates the working class.
Federal employees have been expected to work without pay through the shutdown, with this Friday being the first full paycheck they’ll miss due to the shutdown. Legally, federal employees are supposed to be paid once the shutdown ends, but the Trump administration has tried to argue that some federal employees shouldn’t be paid. Clearly, the beliefs of a man who only has the best interests of all Americans at heart.
Democrats and Republicans are calling on Trump to negotiate a deal, as he has mostly been hands-off through the shutdown. “If he gets involved, he can move it,” GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville told CNN of Trump. “He can make a decision on what we do.”
“At the end of the day, to move this needle and get this thing off the bubble, President Trump will have to get involved,” said GOP Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia. “That’s probably what will have to happen.” Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries have also called on Trump to come to the negotiating table so they can strike a deal.
Despite both parties believing that President Trump should step in to negotiate a deal, he doesn’t seem particularly incentivized to do so. Trump has taken advantage of the shutdown to conduct mass layoffs, end several programs, and cut funding for what he perceives as Democratic initiatives.
Two key factors may bring Trump to the negotiating table, though. While the federal government used unspent research funds to cover military paychecks earlier this month, it was only enough for one pay period. Considering that President Trump has been adamant about deploying the National Guard in several Democratic cities, a missed paycheck could severely hurt the already dwindling morale of the deployed Guardsmen.
The second factor is that the open enrollment period for the ACA begins Nov. 1, which is when states will begin informing people how much their insurance premiums will increase without the subsidies. The open enrollment period has already begun in Iowa, where thousands of Iowans are expected to be uninsured next year, as they can no longer afford the monthly payments. As more and more people realize that they can no longer afford their health insurance, it may put pressure on the Republicans to strike a deal extending the subsidies.
SEE ALSO:
Here’s Where We Are In The Current Government Shutdown
Mike Johnson Says Government Shutdown Could Be Longest Ever
Food Stamps At Risk As Government Shutdown Becomes 2nd Longest In History was originally published on newsone.com
