USDA website slams Senate Democrats over SNAP battle: ‘Well has run dry’

The Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) website has placed an advisory blaming Senate Democrats for the impending absence of food assistance benefits on its website. 

Starting Nov. 1, it is likely that over 40 million low-income beneficiaries will not receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aid. The USDA, which runs the program, is threatening to withhold between $5 billion and $6 billion in SNAP contingency funding if the government shutdown lasts until nex...

Trump says he’s targeting Democrats’ programs, but the suffering is bipartisan 

Throughout the government shutdown, President Trump has maintained that his administration would “clear out dead wood, waste and fraud.” Because Democrats “started this thing,” he has said, the shutdown presents “an unprecedented opportunity” to eliminate “Democrat-oriented” programs and give his opponents “a taste of their own medicine.”

Trump then posted an image of himself on Truth Social signing a document emblazoned with a statement: “Cry all you want.”

Trump d...

Republicans grapple with shutdown – and why more are blaming the GOP

Republicans are grappling with public polls showing the public places more blame on them, rather than the Democrats, for the shutdown, even as they argue they have the moral high ground in the shutdown fight.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republicans stress that they put no partisan poison pills in a GOP-crafted, House-passed stopgap to fund the government through Nov. 21. Democrats in the Senate have repeatedly blocked that bill as they demand that Republicans first neg...

Bill to fund SNAP in shutdown introduced in House

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) on Friday introduced a bill to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the government shutdown threatens payments of the food aid in some states.

The Keep SNAP Funded Act of 2025 would keep the food aid program funded during the government lapse until the Department of Agriculture is funded through regular appropriations or stopgap measures.

The bill is the companion to a SNAP-funding bill in the Senate b...

Democrats can’t keep the Schumer shutdown going much longer 

The government shutdown will end soon. How do I know? Because whatever political advantage Democrats had a few weeks ago by “standing strong!” and “confronting Trump!” is quickly evaporating. When the polls flip, so will the party that has lost its way. 

Voters have a way of sniffing out the truth. They are beginning to understand that Democrats are rudderless, and are voting to keep the government closed out of confusion, not conviction.  

House Mi...

Whole Hog Politics: Democrats have already won the shutdown, but it won’t be cheap 

Two big data points in the headlines this week: 1) The average cost of a family health insurance plan will be $27,000 for coverage next year and 2) The federal debt grew faster than any time other than the pandemic and surpassed $38 trillion on Wednesday.

Both of these are objectively bad and both carry substantial political danger, but only one of them is likely to get much attention as the government shutdown sinks into its fourth week.

There are a lot of ways t...

Idaho a precursor in continuing ACA debacle

*{box-sizing:border-box}body{margin:0;padding:0}a[x-apple-data-detectors]{color:inherit!important;text-decoration:inherit!important}#MessageViewBody a{color:inherit;text-decoration:none}p{line-height:inherit}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{mso-hide:all;display:none;max-height:0;overflow:hidden}.image_block img+div{display:none}sub,sup{font-size:75%;line-height:0}#converted-body .list_block ol,#converted-body .list_block ul,.body [class~=x_list_block] ol,.body [class~=x_list_block] ul,u+...

Shutdown set to impact SNAP funding in many states

As the government shutdown persists, funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are at risk in states across the country. 

SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are funded by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The federal government shares the cost of administering the program with states, while states operate their own programs. 

Funding is sent to states monthly, so October benefits were not impacted. However, as the go...

Ossoff, Warnock break with Democrats on bill to pay essential workers during shutdown

Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.), the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in the Senate, and his home-state colleague, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), voted Thursday for a Republican bill to pay essential federal workers, including members of the military, during the government shutdown.

Ossoff and Warnock joined Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) in voting for the Republican bill. The measure failed to advance on a 54-45 vote. It needed 60 votes to move forward.

Ossoff’s and Warnoc...