This is when the shutdown gets real — as opposed to simply surreal — for hundreds of thousands of Coloradans not already seriously affected by the shutdown, which has lasted nearly a month.
But not just Coloradans, of course. This headline in the New York Times sums up the situation pretty well: “Hunger and Cold Loom as Shutdown Imperils Funding for Antipoverty Programs.”
Make America Hungry Again? Does it give you a chill?
On Saturday, barring a miracle, the hunger games will begin in force as SNAP (the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) payments will dry up. Not because they have to, but because Donald Trump wants them to, in his cruelty-is-the-point attempt to force Congressional Democrats to roll over.
Hunger games meet power games — and we know who loses.
Democrats have voted for the shutdown because they want a bill that would extend the expiring tax credits that make health insurance affordable for millions. And they want to reverse Trump’s devastating cuts to Medicaid. And because Dems want to show Trump, in his march toward authoritarianism, that they won’t go down without a fight.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans have a plan to do something about the missing subsidies. Not that it’s an actual plan that anyone has seen, sort of like the repeated stabs at a plan to reform Obamacare, which no one has ever seen. The House has been in recess since the shutdown, which doesn’t mean they’re out of business. For example, there is still a committee investigating Joe Biden’s use of the autopen.
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Most Republicans remain in line behind Trump because that’s what they do. And yet, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has publicly demanded to see the plan. And Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, a die-hard conservative, has introduced a Keep SNAP Funded bill, with 10 GOP senators co-sponsoring so far. The bill would keep the subsidies in place until the shutdown ends, which, again, is not a solution but could be a start.
As Hawley wrote in an op-ed Tuesday, “There is no reason any of these residents of my state — or any other American who qualifies for food assistance — should go hungry. We can afford to provide the help.”
Because who wants to see people going hungry? Because who wants to see children suffering from the effects of malnutrition?
Maybe the same guy who is building himself a $300 million ballroom. Maybe the same guy who’s spending billions of dollars on ICE thuggery — some of which is on full display in Colorado. Maybe the same guy who’s spending who knows how much money to send the National Guard — and with the promise/threat of more assistance from the military — into Democratic cities as a continuing ugly show of force.
Maybe the same guy who has provided billions in tax cuts for his billionaire buddies while cutting programs for the working class and the poor.
As many as 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits, which cost, as Hawley points out, about 10% of what we pay for the military, which is busily blowing Venezuelan and Colombian boats out of the water. So far this year, an average of 612,931 Coloradans per month — half of them children — have received the benefits from a program passed into law in 1964 as one of the centerpieces of antipoverty legislation.
Gov. Jared Polis has requested $10 million from the legislature to aid food banks and offset the SNAP cuts. Any of us who can, for that matter, should write a check in support of those who feed the hungry.
But here’s a question for you: Since 1964, guess how many times a government shutdown has stopped funding for food stamps?
No times. As in not once. As in not ever.
Which may be because, as many legal and budget experts suggest, it’s probably illegal to suspend the funding.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA said in a memo posted Sunday. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01.”
And yet, the well is not exactly dry. There are $5 billion in an emergency fund that the USDA could make available. In fact, USDA officials had previously said they would use those funds in case of a prolonged shutdown. Do you have to wonder what/who changed their minds?
Twenty-five states, including Colorado, are not just wondering. They filed a lawsuit Tuesday to force the government to extend the benefits. In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said:
“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. The government is legally required to make payments to those who meet the program requirements.”
The contingency fund wouldn’t entirely solve the SNAP problem because the program costs $8 billion a month. But it would be a start.
I know what you’re thinking now: Can it get worse?
Of course, it gets worse.
You’ve probably seen the headlines blaring about how the cost of health insurance is going through the roof — that is, if you can still afford a roof. On Monday, the Colorado Division of Insurance put an official number on it.
Around 300,000 Coloradans who buy their health insurance in the state’s marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado, will see their premiums double.
The division estimates 75,000 or so will drop their insurance altogether, which means that the state’s current near record low of uninsured will be but a memory.
Costs will rise for virtually all health care premiums across the state — as much as 23%. But those who need it most — those who get subsidy credits in place since the COVID pandemic — will get crushed.
The insurance market opens this Saturday.
So, it’s either food or health insurance?
No, this is far more than an either/or situation. It’s not clear yet what will happen to the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program, which provides funding for low-income pregnant women and low-income mothers with children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk.
And it’s not clear what will happen to the millions who receive government subsidies to help pay the cost of utilities. Or Head Start funding. Or what else might fall by the wayside.
The situation is dire. The cruelty is manifest.
And meanwhile, Donald Trump, in his desperate bid for a Nobel Peace Prize, has claimed to have ended wars across the globe. There may be just a little exaggeration involved (See: Gaza).
But Trump may get credit for helping to move toward an end to the War on Poverty, which has been under attack by Republicans since it began 60 years ago, with mixed results.
Trump’s role in this war would not be solving poverty, of course.
It would be shamefully — and shamelessly — making it far worse by throwing up the white flag.
Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.
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