October 28, 2025 02:53 PM UTC

Trump Cutting Off Food Stamp Funds: The Cruelty Is The Point

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim reports, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has joined with almost two dozen other states filing suit against what they claim is an arbitrary decision by the Trump administration to up the stakes in the ongoing standoff that has shut down most of the federal government’s day-to-day operations, by halting the disbursement of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds to states next month–jeopardizing food security for over 40 million Americans despite the existence of contingency funds to meet the obligation:

“It is clear President Trump and his USDA are making a deliberate, illegal, and inhumane choice to not fund the SNAP program during the federal government shutdown despite the availability of contingency funds,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “The government is legally required to make payments to those who meet the program requirements.”

The USDA made clear in October that it would not be able to cover the approximately $9 billion that goes to pay SNAP benefits in November if the shutdown lasted that long.

The decision to file suit comes after the federal Department of Agriculture also said it could not use SNAP contingency funds to fund the program because the benefits for FY 2026 have not been appropriated and “no longer exists.”

It was a position that House Speaker Mike Johnson backed up Monday, saying he saw the legal analysis “and it certainly looks legitimate to me.”

If food assistance was a Republican political priority like, say, meeting the military’s payroll obligations, they would certainly be up in arms about the potential cutoff of these funds in a matter of days. The irony is that some of the states most dependent on SNAP assistance to feed their hungry families are red states, but the prevalent assumption among Republicans is that Democrats will take on the political damage–even though polls show that Republicans are the ones voters hold responsible, and overwhelmingly support the health care funding Democrats are holding out for.

Last week, Sen. John Hickenlooper took to “HickTok” to call out the administration for “using kids and families as leverage.”

@senatorhick Over 600,000 people in Colorado rely on SNAP for their next meal. The White House is using kids and families as leverage instead of working with Democrats to solve the health care crisis and reopen the government. #governmentshutdown #senate #foodstamps #politics #trump ♬ original sound – Sen. John Hickenlooper

One of the biggest problems for the administration is that they originally agreed billions of dollars in reserve funds for the program could be tapped to keep food benefits flowing in the event of a shutdown, only to change their minds for the sole purpose of escalating the shutdown stakes:

At issue is more than $5 billion in the SNAP contingency pool, which Congress created to fund the low-income nutrition program in the event of emergencies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees SNAP, had initially said the administration is legally obligated to pay SNAP benefits in the event of a shutdown.

But last week, the department reversed course, saying the contingency fund is reserved for emergencies like natural disasters, not the current shutdown, which it blamed on Democrats. In that light, the agency said, it’s not withholding the money that would be illegal, but spending it.

Again, from a President who has made sidestepping the law to do whatever he wants his signature dance move, this refusal to fund food assistance benefits on a thin legal pretense that reverses their previous position is an insult to the nation’s intelligence. No one believes this, and everyone understands that this is a negotiating tactic, weaponizing the hunger of millions of Americans.

There is one simple reason that Democrats have been fighting an uphill battle to save Americans from massive health insurance premium increases, and it’s not just that Republicans hold a majority trifecta of power in Washington.

At the end of the day, Republicans are counting on Democrats not being willing to conscientiously allow fellow Americans to suffer like they are.