Trump purposefully halting SNAP benefits, "weaponizing hunger," Democrats allege

When SNAP benefits run out on Nov. 1, 42 million Americans are going to battle to put nourishment on the table — and Democrats affirm the Trump organization has particularly planned that result by “weaponizing hunger.”

Why it things: Democrats see the approaching help deficiency as a Republican catastrophe outlined to thrust them to the shutdown arranging table, and are making the solidify central to their reviving messaging.

What they’re saying: “Trump is weaponizing starvation,” Senate Minority Pioneer Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a Wednesday news conference.

“He’s turning millions of children and seniors and veterans into political pawns,” he said.

“All of these individuals who will lose their SNAP benefits, not since the money’s gone, not since it’s not allowed, since Donald Trump requested it ceased,” Schumer added.

“Plain and straightforward, denying to utilize the appropriated reserves is against the law,” Positioning Part of the House Horticulture Committee Angie Craig (D-Minn.) said in a isolated press conference Wednesday.

Driving the news: A gather of 25 states and the Locale of Columbia sued the U.S. Office of Farming on Tuesday, claiming it’s wrongfully withholding stores that seem support benefits.

The suit notes that the solidify is the to begin with time in the program’s generally 60-year history that benefits will be ceased, in spite of the USDA having $6 billion in possibility reserves that seem be utilized.

The claim moreover distinguished at slightest one other pot of cash USDA might drag from, which the division as of now tapped prior this month to finance the Ladies, Newborn children and Children (WIC) program.

The interest: The USDA’s claim shutdown-funding arrange, which has been expelled from the department’s site, shows that the possibility stores might be used.

Zoom out: Trump kept SNAP financed amid the 2018-19 shutdown by utilizing possibility reserves, but it’s vague why the administration’s position on utilizing the cash has changed amid his moment term.

An Office of Administration and Budget representative told Axios on Wednesday that the possibility support is “not accessible” to back “normal benefits since the allotment for standard benefits no longer exists.”

The representative said the finance is for possibilities such as people encountering a common disaster.

“For illustration, Typhoon Melissa is as of now whirling in the Caribbean and may reach Florida. Having reserves promptly accessible permits the U.S. Office of Farming to mobilize rapidly in the days and weeks taking after a disaster.”

The White House did not react to Axios’ ask for comment.

“You listened around the possibility support that exists,” Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), a part of the House Committee on Horticulture, told correspondents on Wednesday.

“When it suits them, they have all the stores in the world. When it doesn’t, of course, there’s nothing.”

What we’re observing: Whereas there’s no clear way to revive the government right presently, the rebuffing blend of solidified SNAP, WIC and domestic vitality benefits in expansion to schedule month to month bills due on Nov. 1 may offer assistance weight Congress into reviving the government.

Go more profound: Nourishment banks brace for 42 million without SNAP

Editor’s note: This story has been upgraded with a articulation from the Office of Administration and Budget.

Source:https://www.axios.com/2025/10/29/snap-benefits-shutdown-trump-democrats

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