Merkley Blasts Senate Republicans for ‘Make America Hungry Agenda’

Merkley, Schumer resolution demanding Trump prevent millions of Americans from going hungry blocked on the Senate Floor

Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today denounced Senate Republicans for blocking his resolution with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to force President Trump to immediately use all congressionally approved funding to keep families from going hungry.

"President Trump has a new MAHA strategy-the 'Make America Hungry Agenda'-using food as a weapon to inflict harm on vulnerable kids, seniors, and families across America. It's wrong on every level," said Merkley. "Last month, the Trump Administration indicated it had the authority to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during a government shutdown using an emergency fund appropriated by Congress. Rather than follow the law, Trump decided to use America's most vulnerable families as political pawns and removed the policy from the Agriculture Department's website. Children, seniors, and vulnerable families are not bargaining chips-they are Americans who rely on this critical program."

Merkley continued, "Now, the Trump Administration is claiming it will only fund half of SNAP benefits in November and that funds wouldn't be delivered-in its own words-for 'a few weeks to up to several months.' This is outrageous-the President needs to use both the full authority of the contingency funds and the interchange authority to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, so families and kids don't starve."

On Friday, October 31, two federal district courts ruled that President Trump was obligated to provide SNAP benefits via contingency funds, but earlier today, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Patrick A. Penn said in a court filing that the agency would utilize its contingency funds but "USDA's understanding is that the system changes States must implement to provide the reduced benefit amounts will take anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months." He also said that the contingency fund totals about $4.65 billion, which will only fund half of SNAP for November, and the Administration would not use interchange authority to spend Section 32 tariff revenue to fully fund SNAP.

After nutrition assistance from SNAP for roughly 42 million Americans was stopped on November 1 due to the ongoing Republican-led government shutdown, Senate Republicans blocked Merkley and Schumer's resolution and failed to take further action to protect critical nutrition assistance for families nationwide.

In addition to being sponsored by Merkley and Schumer, the resolution is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Full text of the resolution can be found by clicking here.

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