Millions of Americans reliant on food stamps will not receive benefits for the month of November, due to the ongoing government shutdown.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not issue Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits until the government reopens, with the agency saying on its website that “the well has run dry.”
Federal agencies like the USDA have remained unfunded since Oct. 1, when the government shuttered after Senate Democrats blocked Republicans’ Continuing Resolution, a seven-week funding stopgap.
Since then, all but three Democratic senators have continuously filibustered the House-passed CR, demanding that Republicans promise to renew a costly pandemic-era expansion of Obamacare Premium Tax Credits.
In a Monday news conference, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., condemned Democrats for causing “real harm” to Americans in keeping the government closed for nearly a month now and jeopardizing food assistance.
“Every Republican in the House and Senate voted yes, to put that food on the table. And Democrats keep voting no, they keep voting to shut the government down. And it’s having an impact on millions of people,” Scalise said. “It’s a national disgrace, and it needs to end now.”
Roughly 42 million people currently receive SNAP benefits, also know as food stamps. Some states have contingency plans in place, with Virginia approving the use of emergency funds to support SNAP and New Hampshire partnering with a local food bank.
But most states – including Illinois, California, Tennessee, and Scalise’s home state of Louisiana – can only warn their residents that food stamps will cease until the federal government reopens.
The ongoing shutdown is set to become the longest in American history if Congress continues on its path of partisanship. Monday marks the 27th day, and the longest shutdown ever lasted 35 days.
Even if Republicans and Democrats miraculously came to an agreement on the CR Tuesday, the bill’s originally seven-week long funding extension no longer applies, given that lawmakers have already wasted more than half of that time period.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has hinted that the House may need to return to redraft and extend the CR’s timeframe, a scenario that Republicans hope to avoid.
