Senate Republicans will block a Democratic bill that would keep federal food aid flowing to 42 million Americans as they try to build pressure to reopen the government, Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday.
The bill from New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, which would fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Women, Infants and Children nutrition past Nov. 1, is a “cynical attempt to buy political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown even longer,” Thune said from the Senate floor.
“We’re not going to let them pick winners and losers,” he added on the 29th day of the government shutdown.
It only takes one senator to object to passing a bill by unanimous consent, as Democrats plan to do in the coming hours. And short of President Donald Trump unilaterally shifting funds — which administration officials say he won’t do — SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, will lapse for the first time in modern history at the end of the week.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has offered his own stand-alone SNAP patch, has also said that his proposal will also be blocked from passing unanimously on the floor.
Asked about rejecting the SNAP bills, Thune separately told reporters that if the Senate starts “going down the road of … take care of this group or that group … it just begs the larger question, how long is this going to drag on?”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, pointed the blame for the lapse squarely at Republicans, adding that he would vote for Hawley’s proposal if it was put up for a vote.
“Ask John Thune why he won’t put it on the floor,” he said inside the Senate chamber Wednesday. “He knows there’s broad Republican support for it, and he doesn’t put it on the floor. He’s afraid of Trump. That’s it. He knows better.”
Trump has spoken carefully about the potential SNAP lapse in recent days, however. Asked about the approaching cliff on Air Force One overnight, Trump said, “We’ll get it done” before quickly saying Democrats need to reopen the government. He also suggested Friday that “everybody is going to be in good shape” when asked about the looming deadline.
The food-aid cliff has split Republicans between those who want to make sure the program is funded any way possible and GOP leaders and others who don’t want to ease pressure on Democrats to fully reopen the government.
Thune said he spoke to Trump Tuesday night but that they did not discuss the idea of the administration taking unilateral action on SNAP. Instead, the South Dakota Republican said, what Trump is “saying consistently is, ‘Open up the government.’”
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is among the Republicans who have urged USDA to shift funding to cover the benefits. With roughly 12 percent of all Mainers relying on the program, a lapse could be a major liability in her race for reelection next year in a blue state.
Democrats and even privately some Republican lawmakers argue the Trump administration has the legal authority to tap a $5 billion contingency fund, or other USDA funds, to ensure SNAP benefits keep flowing during the shutdown. Dozens of Democratic governors and attorneys general have sued the administration over its decision not to tap those funds.
“They need to use it. That’s what it’s there for. If they don’t, they’re inflicting pain upon some of those vulnerable people in the country, and shame on them,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee. “I mean, Trump’s not only a lousy president, but he’s a rotten human being.”
Speaker Mike Johnson argued Wednesday that Congress hasn’t authorized the contingency fund and faulted Democrats for voting against a stopgap spending bill that would keep benefits flowing. But even some Republican lawmakers privately note that’s not how the fund works.
“On Saturday, this gets very real,” Johnson said Wednesday. “You’re talking about tens of millions of Americans at risk of going hungry — if Senate Democrats continue this.”
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