We thank you for standing firm on the shutdown. No budget bill or CR without restoration of healthcare funds, trans care, and clear language requiring the MAGA Regime to obey the budget laws the Congress enacts.

We urge you to oppose and expose the MAGA Regime's despicable and illegal blockade of legally-authorized SNAP funds that provide food for 41 million low-income Americans. We want you to fight harder! Issuing press releases and stern statements are not enough. Start fighting outside of your "business-as-usual" box. For example, if Republicans won't allow hearings into MAGA crimes and malfeasance, rent a hall and hold your own hearings in Washington and the Bay Area. If MAGA officials refuse to testify, let those harmed and abused by MAGA actions have their say.

Background

The MAGA Regime has shrunk domestic spending to its lowest level in modern history by targeting climate, health, housing, education, science, and the poor, while at the same time further enriching the obscenely wealthy with lavish tax breaks and pumping vast new funds into the military, mass deportations, and corporate welfare. In an effort to restore health care funding and programs, and require the wannabe king to obey the spending laws that Congress enacts, Democrats are refusing to vote for any budget bill that fails to oppose government being twisted into a tool for political oppression, illegal seizure of power, and private enrichment by Trump and his cronies.

As the budget shutdown enters its second month, the MAGA Regime is creating an artificial hunger crisis by denying, delaying, and blocking legally-authorized funds for SNAP benefits (food stamps) that 41 million Americans rely on to feed their families. Their intention is to coerce and bludgeon Democrats and the American people into accepting their ongoing unconstitutional executive-action and legislative-malfeasance coup.

Shutdown/SNAP Timeline:

When it became clear at the end of September that there would be a government shutdown, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that SNAP funds had already been allocated for October, and that the USDA contingency fund would carry the program through November.
After the shutdown commenced, the MAGA Regime began shifting funds and juggling budgets to keep their favorite activities and agencies in full operation while shutting down what they characterized as "Democratic" programs.
In mid-October, the wannabe king decreed that contrary to previous policy, the USDA contingency funds would NOT be used to fund SNAP beginning on November 1st.
Twenty-five states sued to restore those funds and last week two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to do so.
Over the weekend, in response to grocers in many communities offering discounts or lower prices to aid SNAP recipients feed their families in this crisis, the USDA threatened them with legal action if they did so, claiming that helping hungry families violated the "Equal Treatment Rule."
On Monday, the administration claimed that the contingency fund would only provide 50% of full SNAP funding for November (contradicting earlier assessments), and they refused to tap other funds such as unused tariff revenue. They also asserted that it might take weeks for the contingency funds to reach Americans who need the SNAP benefits to feed their families now. In other words, they are stalling.

References

SNAP’s Contingency Reserve Is Available for Regular SNAP Benefits, as USDA and OMB Have Ruled in Past, 10/27 Center Budget and Policy Priorities.

Democrats and Republicans Clash Over SNAP Contingency Funds, FactCheck.Org 10/31

Food Stamp Cuts Expose Trump’s Strategy to Use Shutdown to Advance Agenda, NY Times. 11/2 (no paywall)

Trump admin will partially fund November SNAP benefits, Politico. 11/3

Supplementary Declaration (legal filing). Patrick Penn, USDA. 11/3 PDF

SNAP-EBT Authorized Retailers Must Comply with the SNAP Equal Treatment Rule. Official USDA statement.

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