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REP. AUSTIN SCOTT: Democrats Use Starving Americans As ‘Leverage’ For Schumer Shutdown
42 million Americans, including children, seniors, disabled individuals, and working families, are on the verge of losing access to critical food assistance, and Democrats refuse to stop it.
Congressional Democrats’ calculated refusal to do their job and reopen the government puts these vulnerable Americans at risk of losing access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in November. These aren’t just statistics: they’re our vulnerable population and hardworking families who depend on SNAP benefits to purchase groceries and ensure their households don’t go hungry.
House Democrat Leadership has already admitted this. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark explicitly said, “families are going to suffer” because of the government shutdown, but that the suffering is worth it to Democrats because it is one of the “few leverage times” they have. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons similarly said that while cutting off SNAP benefits is an “unpleasant tool,” it is the Democrats’ “moment of leverage.”
If Democrats continue their obstruction, women and children who need assistance will struggle to purchase food for Thanksgiving while Democrats feast on their political posturing. Make no mistake: Democrats are choosing taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal aliens over food for American families.
The Trump Administration demonstrated its commitment to America’s most vulnerable citizens by working diligently to distribute SNAP benefits for October before the Democrats shut down the government on October 1. However, with Democrats continuing to hold the government hostage and use American families as leverage over their demand for taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal aliens, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now legally unable to distribute SNAP benefits for November.
Without congressional approval of funding, USDA’s hands are tied, and millions of Americans will bear the consequences of Democratic intransigence. House Republicans passed a clean government funding package over six weeks ago, but Democrats have blocked it over a dozen times in the Senate.
Democrats are knowingly spreading lies about a SNAP contingency fund, presenting it as if the fund were a magic solution to the crisis they created. Don’t take the bait.
In reality, the SNAP contingency fund is a limited reserve that can only be deployed in response to natural disasters and other emergencies. It cannot replace regular funding for monthly SNAP benefits. Additionally, the contingency fund is not even large enough to cover a full month of SNAP benefits if the funds were accessible. It cannot, and will not, solve the problem Democrats have manufactured through their shutdown.
The situation reveals an irony that should not be lost on anyone paying attention, especially residents of blue states.
Unlike many other federal assistance programs that operate as a state-federal partnership, SNAP is funded entirely by the federal government with no state cost-share requirement. This structure prevents states from using their own funds to bridge the gap when federal funding lapses. States are powerless to protect their residents from the consequences of this Democratic shutdown.
SNAP’s primary purpose has always been to provide a temporary safety net for individuals and families who have fallen on hard times and need assistance supplementing their income to afford food.
The cruel irony of the current situation cannot be overstated: by shutting down the government, Democrats have forced hundreds of thousands of federal workers into genuine financial hardship by depriving them of their paychecks, while simultaneously blocking the very safety net programs specifically designed to assist workers during times of need.
Democrats said in their own words they wanted to inflict suffering, and they have. Millions of families are struggling to put food on the table and instead of fixing it, Democrats are reveling in these families’ struggles. They are not even hiding it.
A federal worker furloughed because of the Democrat shutdown can’t even access SNAP benefits because of the same Democrat shutdown. Democrats are inflicting the wound and withholding the bandage, all for political leverage.
Make no mistake about what is happening here: Democrats are playing political games, and using hardworking American families and innocent children as leverage, in order to secure taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal aliens.
The solution to this Democrat-manufactured crisis could not be more straightforward: Democrats must stop using the American people as hostages for their demands that illegal aliens receive taxpayer-funded healthcare and instead must vote to reopen the government immediately. They have the power to end this crisis today with a single vote on a clean funding bill to restore SNAP benefits and ensure that 42 million Americans do not go hungry this November.
While American families are set to go hungry, the Left is feeding their political agenda. Every day they refuse, the choice becomes clearer: Democrats chose illegal aliens over you.
Read my full op-ed in the Daily Caller here.
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