US Republicans seek to ‘weaponise hunger’ in shutdown: Top Democrat

Approximately one in eight Americans receives food stamp benefits from the US government, a programme at risk of not being funded as of Saturday by the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (Snap) due to the government shutdown. Photo / Mark Felix, AFP

A top US congressional Democrat accuses President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans of choosing to “weaponise hunger”, as a prolonged Government shutdown disrupts critical food benefits for millions of low-income Americans.

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries warned that the Republican Party was “unserious” about reopening the Government, which has remained shuttered for five weeks, delivering a multibillion-dollar hit to the economy and leading to sharp accusations from both sides of the political aisle.

He accused Trump’s Republicans – many of whom have stayed away from Washington for weeks as the Republican leadership keeps the House of Representatives idle – of manufacturing a crisis, including the lapse of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (Snap), which provides food aid to more than 42 million Americans.

“We want to reopen the government, we want to enact a bipartisan spending agreement that actually makes life better for everyday Americans,” Jeffries told CNN’s State of the Union talk show.

“It’s very unfortunate that Donald Trump and Republicans have decided to weaponise hunger and withhold Snap benefits, even in contravention of two federal courts, which have made clear that not a single person in this country should go without their nutritional assistance.”

A federal judge recently ordered the Government to use emergency funds to ensure the continuity of Snap. Trump expressed a willingness to comply but said he needed more clarification on how the administration could legally accomplish that.

Jeffries expressed his exasperation over suspending funding for Snap, which had operated uninterrupted for 60 years until now.

“Donald Trump and his administration [are] finding funding for other projects, but somehow they can’t find money to make sure that Americans don’t go hungry,” he said.

Republicans have been seeking a straightforward extension of federal funding through a so-called short-term continuing resolution lasting until November 21, or beyond, to get the lights back on and prompt negotiations over a long-term solution.

But Democrats are demanding that any federal funding plan also include an extension of enhanced Obamacare health insurance subsidies, which are set to expire at year’s end without congressional action.

If the subsidies expire, “we know that tens of millions of Americans are about to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles”, Jeffries said.

With no end to the stalemate in sight, and Trump refusing to meet congressional Democrats unless the Government is opened first, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of wanting to “renegotiate the entire health care system”.

“That’s why they’re holding the Government hostage,” Leavitt told Fox News show Sunday Morning Futures.

“They want to add US$1.7 trillion [$2.9t] of new spending, and again, give taxpayer-funded Medicaid to illegal aliens. That is a red line in the sand for President Trump and Republicans,” she said.

Undocumented immigrants in the United States are not eligible for Medicaid, the federal health coverage programme for low-income Americans, or for Snap.

- Agence France-Presse