Senate Republicans on Tuesday voted down a Democratic bill to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through the government shutdown.
As tens of millions of Americans stare down the prospect of going hungry beginning Nov. 1, Senate Republicans rejected a unanimous consent bid by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) to keep the program funded.
SNAP allows those with low to no income to buy food and beverages at grocery stores.
While this benefit is mandatory—unlike Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—it is funded through appropriations.
SNAP benefits were scheduled to be handed out on Nov. 1, but without government funding, that assistance will not be administered.
An earlier, now-deleted Sept. 30 post from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities titled “Lapse of Funding Plan,” said that SNAP benefits would continue flowing during the shutdown. The agency is now contradicting that earlier memo.
Hellbound and Down 