XPost: alt.politics.republicans, alt.politics.democrats, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   From: smassuco@sdsu.edu   
      
   Republicans say funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,   
   or SNAP, benefits — formerly known as food stamps — will run out on Nov.   
   1 due to the federal government shutdown, and there’s nothing they can   
   do about it. Democrats say there’s a contingency fund that could and   
   should continue to fund regular SNAP benefits.   
      
   And, in fact, that was the Republican plan up until at least a few weeks   
   ago. Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP,   
   says it can’t legally tap the contingency fund for that purpose.   
      
   “There has to be a preexisting appropriation for the contingency fund to   
   be used, and Democrats blocked that appropriation when they rejected the   
   clean continuing resolution,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said   
   at a press conference on Oct. 27. “The best way for SNAP benefits to be   
   paid on time is for the Democrats to end their shutdown.”   
      
   We can’t say whether the USDA is barred from tapping the contingency   
   funds for regular SNAP benefits — ultimately that may be a decision for   
   the courts — but the USDA position that Johnson cited has apparently   
   changed in the past month. When the Trump administration’s USDA issued a   
   “Lapse of Funding Plan” on Sept. 30, it stated that the contingency   
   fund, estimated to be more than $5 billion, can and should be used to   
   fund SNAP payments in the event of a shutdown.   
      
   “In addition, Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations   
   should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year   
   contingency funds that can be used for State Administrative Expenses to   
   ensure that the State can also continue operations during a Federal   
   Government shutdown,” the document states. “These multi-year contingency   
   funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that   
   a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”   
      
   That document has since been scrubbed from the USDA website, but it’s   
   still available via the Wayback Machine archives.   
      
   “It’s also important to note that the money currently exists within the   
   Trump administration, including $5 billion in a contingency fund,   
   specifically, for this kind of circumstance, to continue providing SNAP   
   benefits to the American people, including 16 million children who might   
   otherwise go hungry, if Donald Trump successfully withholds these SNAP   
   benefits,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on CNN on Oct.   
   29. “The Trump administration doesn’t need Congress to act in order to   
   continue providing nutritional and food assistance to everyday Americans.”   
      
   What’s at Stake?   
   Democrats and Republicans have been locked in a stalemate over efforts   
   to extend federal government funding. Democrats have insisted   
   legislation should include an extension of the more generous Affordable   
   Care Act subsidies, which were first enacted in 2021, and a repeal of   
   some health care measures affecting Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful   
   Bill Act. Republicans have balked at those demands, and have offered   
   only a “clean” bill to temporarily extend current federal government   
   funding levels. As a result, the government shut down on Oct. 1.   
      
   Funding of SNAP benefits continued through October, however, because, as   
   the since-deleted “Lapse of Funding Plan” explained, the Office of   
   Management and Budget’s general counsel advised obligating fiscal 2025   
   funds to cover SNAP benefits in October in the event of a government   
   shutdown at the start of the fiscal year (Oct. 1). But the USDA now says   
   it has no way to continue funding SNAP benefits beyond October,   
   jeopardizing food assistance used by nearly 42 million Americans each month.   
      
   A banner at the top of the USDA Food & Nutrition website now states,   
   “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp   
   program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program   
   (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be   
   no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point   
   for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for   
   illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government   
   so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive   
   critical nutrition assistance.”   
      
   (The votes cited in that message were votes on Republican funding bills   
   that didn’t include the Democrats’ demands on health care funding changes.)   
      
   Democratic leaders say the Trump administration could continue funding,   
   but has chosen not to as a form of leverage in the shutdown standoff.   
      
   Contingency Fund   
   The SNAP program is funded through annual appropriations, and the   
   Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, allocated about $122 billion to   
   fund food and nutrition programs (mostly SNAP benefits), in addition to   
   $3 billion in reserve “for use only in such amounts and at such times as   
   may become necessary to carry out program operations” through the end of   
   September 2026. The reserve fund is good for two years, and together   
   with funding from the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions   
   Act of 2025, the contingency reserve totaled about $6 billion prior to   
   the shutdown.   
      
   The amount is now likely between $5 billion and $6 billion, as some of   
   the reserve was tapped to pay administrative costs in October, according   
   to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.   
      
   As we said, up until earlier this month, the USDA’s “Lapse of Funding   
   Plan” envisioned tapping that reserve to pay regular SNAP benefits in   
   the event of a shutdown. That has been the understanding guiding past   
   administrations, as well.   
      
   For example, the USDA’s 2021 contingency plan — cited in the run-up to a   
   2023 shutdown — assured that SNAP benefits would be paid during a   
   shutdown, in part by tapping “multi-year carry over funds” and   
   “contingency reserves.”   
      
   That was also the guidance during Trump’s first presidential term,   
   according to CBPP.   
      
   During a shutdown in early 2019, the USDA assured that SNAP benefits   
   would continue to be paid even “without an additional appropriation from   
   Congress.”   
      
   “At President Trump’s direction, we have been working with the   
   Administration on this solution. It works and is legally sound. And we   
   want to assure states, and SNAP recipients, that the benefits for   
   February will be provided,” Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said   
   in a press release at the time. “Our motto here at USDA has been to ‘Do   
   Right and Feed Everyone.’ With this solution, we’ve got the ‘Feed   
   Everyone’ part handled. And I believe that the plan we’ve constructed   
   takes care of the ‘Do Right’ part as well.”   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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