REPUBLICAN GENOCIDE?

[Mme. Defarge]

MAGA Uses Hunger as a Political Weapon
Starving children is a new low
JENNIFER RUBIN
OCT 29 (The Contrarian)

Donald Trump, like autocrats around the globe, is weaponizing food supply. He is prepared to let more than 40 Million Americans go hungry to pressure Democrats to capitulate on the shutdown and accede to his plan to snatch health insurance away from tens of millions of people.

The New York Times reports, “With no end in sight to the nearly monthlong federal government shutdown, funding for the nation’s largest food assistance program, known as SNAP, will disappear at the start of November, according to the Department of Agriculture.”

On Friday, the Trump administration said in a memo that it would not tap into contingency funds to keep payments flowing to states. That means that the roughly 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — may soon have to find other ways to feed themselves and their families.”

In many cases, alternatives to SNAP will be unavailable since states and localities lack funds while charities cannot scale up to meet the food deficit. “Anti-hunger organizations and food banks say the surging demand will almost certainly exceed their capacity to respond.”

There is no excuse for shutting off food benefits. Sharon Pratt, a former Office of Management and Budget employee, wrote for the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities: “In fact, the Administration is legally required to use contingency reserves — billions of dollars that Congress provided for use when SNAP funding is inadequate that remain available during the shutdown — to fund November benefits for the 1 in 8 Americans who need SNAP to afford their grocery bill.

Your healthcare or your food - take your pick.