Trump admin warns 42 million Americans could lose food stamps as shutdown drags on
The Trump administration is warning that millions of Americans could lose out on federal food benefits within days if Democrats do not accept Republicans' plan to end the government shutdown.The...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Trump administration is warning that millions of Americans could lose out on federal food benefits within days if Democrats do not accept Republicans' plan to end the government shutdown . The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it does not have the ability to independently reshuffle funds into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, according to a recent memo obtained by Fox News Digital. "Due to Congressional Democrats’ refusal to pass a clean continuing resolution (CR), approximately 42 million individuals will not receive their SNAP benefits come November 1st," the memo said. "This jeopardizes all SNAP recipients in November, including those that have applied for benefits in the last half of October, and furloughed Federal employees who will not receive their combined October/November benefits." FLASHBACK: TED CRUZ PREDICTS BALLOONING OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES NOW AT CENTER OF SHUTDOWN FIGHT Democrats had been pressing the Trump administration to use the federal government's SNAP contingency fund, which they said contains about $5 billion, to cover at least some of the shortfall. It takes about $8 to $9 billion per month to cover all SNAP benefits . But the USDA argued that the emergency funding was not "legally available" for use. "SNAP contingency funds are only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits. The contingency fund is not available to support [fiscal year (FY) 2026] regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists," the memo said. "Instead, the contingency fund is a source of funds for contingencies, such as the Disaster SNAP program, which provides food purchasing benefits for individuals in disaster areas, including natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, that can come on quickly and without notice." The department also argued that shuffling existing funds from…