Schumer blasts Trump over SNAP freeze, calls move 'cynical and entirely unnecessary'

WASHINGTON, DC: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized President Donald Trump on Monday, October 27, for allowing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to lapse, calling the move “callous, cynical and entirely unnecessary.”

Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer accused the president of “manufacturing a SNAP crisis instead of working with the Democrats” to resolve the impasse.

“The very same administration that sent $40 billion to Argentina at the drop of a hat, to help Trump's MAGA ally, is now telling hungry families in America they can't have nutrition funding. What gall,” Schumer said, referencing the reported loan guarantees and a currency swap the administration is arranging to assist Argentina.

Schumer accuses the White House of warped priorities

Schumer accused the White House of choosing not to use available emergency funding to sustain food aid.

“Donald Trump says there’s no money to pay hungry kids … but he’s spending $40 billion to bail out Argentina, $300 million on his vanity ballroom, $172 million on two luxury jets for Kristi Noem. Hundreds of millions for outfitting his foreign jet. But nothing, nothing, nothing to help hungry kids,” he said.  

The New York Democrat argued that the administration “is making an intentional choice not to fund SNAP this weekend.”

“The emergency funding is there,” Schumer continued. 

“If the administration can cough up $40 billion for Argentina, they can find money for SNAP by this Saturday,” he added.

Thune fires back at Democrats for 'political games'

Senate Majority Leader John Thune pushed back, accusing Democrats of prioritizing politics over relief.

“Democrats once passionately opposed shutdown, or so they said, in large part because of the impact they would have on American citizens and American workers,” Thune said.

“Now, government workers and every other American have become nothing more than pawns in the Democrats’ political games,” he added.

He noted that federal workers missed paychecks last week, service members’ salaries was “in jeopardy,” and more than 40 million Americans could lose access to food aid if the shutdown drags on.

“The party that once decried the impact of shutdowns on Americans in need is now apparently content to see 40 million Americans go without food,” Thune said.

Thune says ‘Democrats’ victims are piling up’

Thune accused Democrats of letting the shutdown fester to score political points.

“Democrats’ victims are piling up,” he said. “While some Democrats may be privately uncomfortable about all the damage a four-week shutdown is doing, so far they’re too scared of their base to do anything about it.”

He added that if Democrats were truly serious about health care and the economy, they would vote to "reopen the government so that we could actually engage in a serious discussion about rising health care costs and how Obamacare has failed to address them.”

“But they’re not,” Thune concluded. “Because at the end of the day, Democrats don't want a solution — they want a political issue.”