The money is there to fund food assistance for Americans through emergency funds, but, as Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom put it, "Cruelty is the policy" under the Trump administration. Roughly one in eight people in the US receive food stamps, but that program will end on Nov. 1 due to the GOP government shutdown. Republican voters in rural red areas will be hit hard. This will mark the first time payments have lapsed due to a government shutdown in the program's 60-year history. Democrats are suing the Trump administration.
Reuters reports:
A coalition of Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, seeking to avert what would be a historic lapse in food aid for millions of Americans that is set to begin November 1 amid an ongoing government shutdown.
The lawsuit represents a critical challenge to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision not to use $6 billion in contingency funds to pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, which costs about $8 billion monthly.
At stake is whether more than 41 million low-income Americans will receive their November benefits, which would mark the first time payments have lapsed due to a government shutdown in the program's 60-year history.
"The federal government has the money to continue funding SNAP benefits — they’re choosing to harm millions of families across the country already struggling to make ends meet," Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a social media post about the lawsuit filed in Boston federal court by attorneys general and governors from 25 states and the District of Columbia.
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama. She set a hearing for Thursday on whether to issue a temporary restraining order forcing the USDA to use available contingency funds for November SNAP benefits.
The USDA website blames Democrats for Trump's shutdown, falsely claiming Dems want "healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures." That's just not true. In reality, Democrats want Republicans to come to the table to negotiate a bipartisan compromise on the soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act tax credits, which, if they expire, will cause Americans in the marketplace to see their insurance double in cost.
“We are in a health care crisis and Republicans don’t even want to talk about how to fix it,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday. “The president isn’t even in town as Americans are about to be devastated by the bills they’ll receive on health care.”
That's quite the midterm message from Republicans: No food assistance or healthcare for Americans in the most powerful country in the world. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
