Today is the scariest Halloween in recent memory. That’s because tomorrow, on November 1st, nearly 42 million Americans and the 16 million children who are SNAP recipients are set to lose access to their benefits. The program will run out of money, and EBT cards will not be refilled.
This, of course, is due to the ongoing Republican shutdown, which is now in it’s 31st day. We are 4 days away from the longest government shutdown in American history, which was also under Donald Trump.
Democrats in Congress have filed legislation aimed at keeping food aid flowing through SNAP, but Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said it was a “waste of time.” In addition, Johnson has kept the House out of session for 5 weeks now, in part to avoid a vote on the Epstein files.
Johnson also said that on Saturday, “The pain register is about to hit level 10,” adding that “sadly” 42 million Americans will be affected this weekend. “We deeply regret it on our side,” he added.
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service lied this week, saying they couldn’t access emergency services after removing a memo from their website that says the opposite. And of course, the Trump White House says that won’t tap into emergency funds to pay for SNAP. In fact, more than two dozen Democratic attorneys general and governors are suing the Trump administration over their illegal suspension of SNAP, alleging that there is an emergency fund that can and should be used in this scenario.
Jo is joined by Democratic Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut to discuss all of this and much more, right here on The Siren Network.
