Top House Democrats criticized the Trump administration Friday night over the ban. available food aid For millions of low-income Americans, this decision is both harsh and illegal.
“It is a disgusting dereliction of duty that the Trump Administration would knowingly take food out of the mouths of 42 million children, seniors and veterans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has more than $5 billion in contingency funds set aside by Congress to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in case of emergencies. But according to multiple news reports, the department says it won’t use those funds to cover benefits if the government shutdown extends beyond Oct. 31.
Ina memorandumFirst reported by Axios, the USDA said the reason is simple: The contingency fund was designed to respond to emergencies like natural disasters, and the current shutdown doesn’t qualify because it was created by Democrats. It would be illegal to spend money on SNAP benefits during such an event, the USDA said.
,[T]“The contingency fund is a source of money for contingencies, such as the disaster SNAP program, which provides food purchasing benefits for individuals in disaster areas, including natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, which can strike quickly and without notice,” the memo reads.
The memo contradicts the shutdown plan posted by USDA at the beginning of the year, stating that “The intent of Congress is clear that SNAP should continue to operate because the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds that can be used for state administrative expenses to ensure that states can continue operations during a federal government shutdown.”
The plan has since been dropped.
The new policy also says the USDA will not reimburse states that want to fill the void with their own funding for food assistance during the shutdown.
“There is no provision or allowance for states to cover and reimburse the cost of benefits under existing law,” the memo said.
The reimbursement policy is not controversial. Democrats say any state funding directed at direct benefits would supplement SNAP but would not be considered a formal benefit.
However, refusing to use contingency funds to pay benefits is a different story. and SNAP pro-advocate groups and democratEqually – it has been argued for weeks that any attempt by the administration to freeze the contingency fund would be illegal.
These allegations increased further on Friday night after the news of the USDA memo came to light.
In a joint statement, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, and Ranking Member of the Agriculture Committee Angie Craig (Minn.) said the policy is not only a violation of the law, but a “brutal” attack on poor Americans.
“This is perhaps the most cruel and illegal crime ever committed by the Trump administration – funding that has already been signed into law to feed hungry Americans, while he siphons tens of billions of dollars out the door of Argentina and into his ballroom,” the pair said in a statement.
