Shutdown brinksmanship continues with SNAP benefits on the line

WASHINGTON — With 42 million Americans at risk of losing their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits starting Saturday, Democrats and Republicans are trying to leverage the crisis to their advantage.

On Day 30 of a government shutdown marked by steely brinksmanship, Republicans continued their pleas for five moderate Democrats to support their bill to reopen the government, but Democrats remain resolved in their opposition.

“TRUMP IS LYING AND MANUFACTURING A HUNGER CRISIS,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on X on Thursday morning. “No president in history has cut off SNAP during a shutdown. Including Trump in his first term. His own Agriculture Department says they can fund SNAP. Trump is using Americans as hostages.”

A stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through Nov. 21 has repeatedly failed in the Senate, as Democrats demand an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that will otherwise expire at the end of the year. The Senate may not vote on the measure again until next week, after federal funding for November’s SNAP benefits and tens of thousands of Head Start early childhood education programs has lapsed.

On Thursday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., called out some of the moderate Democratic senators he hopes will flip positions, including Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.; Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn.; Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.; and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

During House Republicans’ daily news conference Thursday, Scalise cited the number of SNAP recipients and federal workers in each of their states, including Michigan, where 1.4 million residents rely on SNAP and 56,000 people work for the federal government.

Peters, however, shows no signs of caving to Republican pressure.

“I’ve unfortunately heard from thousands of Michiganders who are concerned or have already heard from their insurance providers, that their health care premiums will skyrocket next year,” Sen. Peters wrote on X Wednesday. “I will always fight to ensure Michiganders and their families have access to quality, affordable health care.”

In Virginia, 825,000 residents receive SNAP benefits and 189,000 people work for the federal government, Scalise said.

“Don’t give some speech about lamenting the hardships those people are facing when you’re the one voting to impose those hardships,” Scalise said of Warner.

Warner, too, gave no public indication he will shift positions.

“Democrats have a plan to prevent your costs from spiking — Republicans voted against it SEVEN TIMES,” Warner wrote on X on Wednesday.

“Donald Trump won’t even face Democrats,” Warner wrote in a separate post in which he repeated the phrase five other times.

Trump, along with Republican leaders in the House and Senate, has insisted for weeks that GOP lawmakers will only negotiate with Democrats about health care funding once the shutdown has ended.

With SNAP benefits now on the line and ratcheting up tensions, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., wrote on X on Thursday: “If there are any Democrats out there who care about the damage this shutdown is doing, then I have a bill at the desk: A clean, nonpartisan CR (continuing resolution) to fund WIC, SNAP, troop pay, air traffic controller pay, farm programs, housing assistance, national defense, and more.”