Senate Democrats on Wednesday called it “illegal” that the Trump administration wasn’t using emergency funds to pay for food stamps during the government shutdown.
They want the Trump administration to tap $5 billion in contingency funding, created by Congress to fund a low-income nutrition program in the event of emergencies. The administration said it doesn’t have the legal authority to use contingency funding to cover food aid next month.
The fund also would not cover the roughly $9 billion monthly cost of the program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.
Nearly 1 in 8 Americans are enrolled in SNAP and receive monthly payments from the government to buy groceries. The payments will stop Saturday when money runs out because of the ongoing government shutdown.
Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, said the crisis is President Trump’s responsibility.
“No president prior to this one was so myopic about helping only one small segment of people in this country, the very rich and powerful, that they were willing to do such enormous, unconscionable damage to the most vulnerable families in this country as a tactic to try to make sure that their help for the powerful is maintained,” he said at a press conference at the Capitol.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, demanded Mr. Trump “obey the law” and release the funds.
He said the president and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota should listen to the 11 Republicans who joined Democrats in supporting a bipartisan bill to fund SNAP amid the government shutdown.
Legislation led by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, New Mexico Democrat, and another proposed by Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, would fund the federal food aid program during the shutdown, which has lasted nearly a month while Senate Democrats filibuster a bill to fund the government.
“Do not go down as the first president in history to manufacture a hunger crisis in the richest country on Earth,” Mr. Sanders said. “Release these funds.”
President Trump suggested his administration may find a way to fund SNAP while on board Air Force One during his trip to Asia.
“We’re going to get it done,” he told reporters, but did not offer details.
The Agriculture Department initially said the administration is legally obligated to pay SNAP benefits in the event of a government shutdown, according to a since-deleted Lapse of Funding Plan. The current website includes a notice that says no SNAP benefits will be issued on Saturday due to Senate Democrats voting down funding for the food stamp program.
Later, the department claimed that the contingency fund is meant for emergencies such as natural disasters, not the current shutdown.
A summary memo of the legal analysis said that SNAP contingency funds are “only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits.”
“The contingency fund is not available to support FY 2026 regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists,” the memo continued.
