Urgent Senate Update: Trump’s Attack on Food Assistance/SNAP
Starting today, Donald Trump and Republicans planned to intentionally withhold food and nutrition assistance (SNAP benefits) from over 42 million Americans, including 16 million children. In Maryland, that translates into 680,000 people, including nearly 270,000 children, 120,000 seniors, and 130,000 individuals with disabilities. Nothing about the Trump shutdown requires the Administration to take this draconian action. The Congress has made clear that under these circumstances, the government should use available reserve funds to continue supporting SNAP, but the Trump Administration has refused to do so. Instead, they are choosing to impose this pain on the country. As I explained earlier this week, they are sadistically weaponizing hunger as a negotiating tool. This is despicable. Yesterday, two federal district judges ruled that it was likely unlawful. The judges ordered the Trump Administration to continue providing SNAP benefits. We'll see if President Trump agrees to provide food assistance or appeals these decisions.
The truly sick part about all of this is that Trump and Republicans in Congress want to use the threat of hunger to avoid having to negotiate with Democrats to prevent the looming health care crisis across the country. That’s because today is also the first day for Open Enrollment for most of the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Millions of Americans who get their health insurance through these exchanges are going to experience sticker shock. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the majority of Americans who use these exchanges will experience, on average, a whopping 114% increase in their premiums. Families will be paying double or triple what they were paying last year. That’s because, when Trump and Republicans passed their so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” they permanently extended tax cuts for billionaires and the super-wealthy, but they let the one tax cut that helps middle-class families afford health insurance expire at the end of this year. In other words, they left in place a ticking time bomb that will explode on 20 million Americans and create harmful shock waves for millions more. We need to defuse that time bomb.
President Trump spent last week overseas meeting with the leaders of foreign governments while refusing to negotiate to open our own government. It’s time for him to stop this jet-setting and to stop using taxpayer dollars to bail out his far-right buddy in Argentina and start focusing on ending crises of his own making here in the United States.
Meanwhile, here at home, families are struggling to get by. If you’re a Marylander in need of food assistance, Governor Moore has declared a state of emergency and is surging assistance to Maryland families. The State has also released this tool to help you find a food bank. Please contact my office if you have additional questions; we’re here to help.
This preventable hunger crisis is happening by choice—part of a broader pattern of the Trump Administration siding with billionaires and the very rich at the expense of the American people.
In July, as part of their so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump and the Republicans cut nearly $200 billion from SNAP and over $1 trillion in health care programs to help finance their tax breaks for billionaires. Now they’re using this shutdown to inflict even more harm by refusing to use $5 billion in emergency contingency funds to keep SNAP benefits flowing in November. The Administration knows they are supposed to use these contingency funds. How do we know that? That’s what the guidance on their own Department of Agriculture website said until they deleted it a few weeks ago. That’s why I joined my Senate Democratic colleagues in calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to immediately use all available funds to continue SNAP benefits in November and why I cosponsored the SNAP and WIC funded Act to very expressly require that these programs be funded during the Trump shutdown.
Currently, there are two lawsuits against the federal government on its unlawful suspension of SNAP benefits during the government shutdown, including a challenge brought by attorneys general in 25 states, including Maryland. On Friday, federal judges issued two favorable rulings. The rulings confirmed that the Trump Administration is required to use emergency funds to at least partially fund SNAP benefits. Now, we must ensure that the Administration adheres to these rulings, follows the rule of law, and provides food assistance. While Maryland has declared a state of emergency to provide assistance—and food banks, places of worship, and community organizations are stepping up to help their neighbors—the reality is that we do not have the resources to replace all the SNAP funding Donald Trump is attempting to deliberately take away.
I know that this is only one way that Americans are suffering during this government shutdown. Federal workers and contractors are furloughed or working without pay. Trump’s henchman Russ Vought, who has declared that he wants to impose “trauma” on federal workers, has also exploited the shutdown to illegally fire thousands of those federal workers. Last week, a federal judge issued an injunction against those illegal terminations, describing them as “political retribution.” As detailed in my last newsletter, I am fighting back to support federal workers and contractors in every way I can. And last week, I called for a vote on my bill to pay all federal workers, servicemembers, and contractors through the shutdown. Unfortunately, it was blocked by Republicans.
Again, if you’re a Marylander in need of assistance, please contact our team. We’re doing everything we can to help those impacted by this shutdown. I don’t think it’s right or fair that our federal workers are working without pay, and I too am withholding my pay throughout this government shutdown.
I will not rest until we restore SNAP, prevent health care costs from skyrocketing, get federal workers their pay, and end the shutdown without giving Donald Trump a blank check for his lawless actions.
Onwards,
Chris Van Hollen
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