WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming said the Trump administration would be breaking the law if it kept paying certain food benefits during the government shutdown, a claim that a leading Democrat called “a real hoot.”
The dispute centers on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps 42 million low-income Americans. Beneficiaries include about 28,000 Wyomingites, according to U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, who is cosponsoring a bill to keep SNAP funds flowing as the shutdown continues.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs SNAP, says benefits will end Nov. 1 because of the shutdown. The USDA’s website currently displays a banner saying in part: “Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no [SNAP] benefits issued November 01.”
Twenty-five Democrat-run states are suing the USDA, claiming the law requires uninterrupted SNAP benefits. Senate Democrats say the Trump administration, at a minimum, has the authority to fund SNAP during the shutdown — but Barrasso disputes that.
“Democrats know the president can’t legally use emergency funds to the tune of $9 billion per month for food assistance,” Barrasso said Wednesday in floor remarks.
He repeated the assertion on the floor the next day, saying Democrats were insisting on something President Donald Trump cannot legally do.
“They know what they are asking him to do is against the law,” Barrasso said Thursday.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois pushed back.
“For the first time in history, a president is refusing to fund SNAP during a shutdown,” Schumer said Wednesday.
“It’s legal” to keep SNAP funds flowing, but Trump “ordered it stopped,” Schumer added.
Durbin on Thursday referred to “the argument that was made by the senator from Wyoming, that one of the reasons it cannot be done is it’s illegal. Now that’s a real hoot.”
No votes on legislation to end the shutdown were held Thursday, and the Senate adjourned until Monday, ensuring there will be no resolution Friday or over the weekend.
Lummis Cosponsors Bill To Maintain SNAP Payments
Lummis is cosponsoring a bill that would ensure SNAP payments keep flowing during the shutdown, and provide retroactive SNAP payments applicable since the start of the shutdown Oct. 1.
The bill, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, had 29 cosponsors including 14 Republicans as of Thursday.
In a statement Tuesday, when Lummis added her name to the bill, she made clear she wants the Senate to reopen the government.
But in the meantime, “I will, of course, support legislation to ensure no child in Wyoming goes to bed hungry during the shutdown,” Lummis said.
But Hawley's legislation is going nowhere right now.
Barrasso, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, is noncommittal on the Hawley bill, according to spokeswoman Laura Mengelkamp.
Typically, a bill begins in one or more committees, but there are rules allowing for speedy floor votes. Mengelkamp said that as of Thursday, a vote on the Hawley measure had not been scheduled.
Hawley unveiled the bill Oct. 21.
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan. D-New Mexico, recently introduced a bill much like Hawley’s. All Senate Democrats have signed on to Lujan's measure.
Lujan on Wednesday asked for unanimous consent to pass his bill.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune of South Dakota objected, saying Democrats should join Republicans on legislation to reopen the whole government rather than focusing on one program.
The Lujan measure applies to both SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Hawley’s bill pertains only to SNAP.
Neither bill would do anything to end the shutdown.
Hageman Meets With Leaders
Hawley’s bill has a companion in the Republican-controlled House, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa. Cosponsors as of Thursday include 13 Republicans.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, was not listed as a cosponsor Thursday, and her office did not reply to an inquiry as to her position on the measure.
Hageman’s office issued a statement noting she joined top House Republicans on Thursday in condemning the shutdown that she says is because of Democrats.
“Congresswoman Hageman stood with her colleagues in urging Senate Democrats to stop using the American people as leverage for their far-left policy demands and to advance the House-passed clean continuing resolution that would immediately reopen the government, pay our troops, restore federal services, and protect essential programs such as SNAP and WIC,” Hageman’s statement says in part.
Annual funding for the federal government ran out Sept. 30, the end of the last fiscal year. When it became apparent that lawmakers would not agree on spending bills for the new fiscal year, the continuing resolution (CR) that Hageman referred to was introduced.
Passed by the House on Sept. 19, the stopgap measure would maintain the last fiscal year’s funding levels until Nov. 21. It is considered clean because it contains no policy riders.
In theory, the CR would buy time for talks across the aisle on crafting full-year spending bills. But bipartisanship is severely lacking in this Congress. No CR would have been introduced in the first place if there was bipartisan agreement on full-year spending bills.
Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 margin but need a supermajority of 60 votes to pass appropriations measures, including the CR that is currently at issue.
Senate Democrats are largely unified in demanding the extension of soon-to-expire health care tax credits in exchange for votes in support of the CR. Senate Democrats, who say an extension of the tax credits would avert steep hikes in health insurance premiums, have voted 13 times to defeat the CR.
Democrats say the GOP should negotiate on the CR. Republicans refuse to do that, saying the Democrats must first vote to reopen the government before talks on health care or other issues will take place.
But if Democrats lend their votes to reopen the government, they are not assured of getting anything in return down the line.
Democrats have fumed over several bills passed this year that did not require the supermajority of 60 Senate votes. Now — holding the 60-vote-threshold card -- Democrats are demanding GOP leaders sit down at the table.
The Democrats' posture, in turn, has led Republicans to accuse the minority party of hostage-taking.
USDA To Fund WIC, School Lunches
Mengelkamp, the Barrasso spokeswoman, on Thursday emailed Cowboy State Daily a USDA document on the funding of various federal food aid programs.
The document makes distinctions among such programs, some of which the USDA says it will continue to fund for now. These include school lunches and WIC.
According to Lummis, about 8,400 Wyomingites benefit from WIC.
The USDA document sent by Mengelkamp says tariff revenue has been transferred to fund WIC and some other food programs — but not SNAP.
“Contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular [SNAP] benefits,” the document says.
According to Durbin and other Democrats, though, the USDA’s website recently said such funds were available for SNAP. The Democrats say that information was yanked from the website just days ago.
Barrasso and Thune, meanwhile, say they want to fund SNAP as part of reopening the whole government.
Around 2 million federal employees are either furloughed (not working and not getting paid) or are working but missing paychecks.
Lummis, while cosponsoring the Hawley bill intended to provide SNAP funds during the shutdown, said the CR to reopen the government is the better option because it solves myriad problems.
“A clean continuing resolution is the only way to ensure that SNAP and WIC remain funded, that federal law enforcement and air traffic controllers get paid, and that small business owners, ranchers, and farmers have access to critical loans,” she said in the Tuesday statement.
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
