Democrats unflinching in shutdown strategy, blaming Trump with millions at risk of losing food aid

By Sarah Ferris, Ellis Kim, CNN

(CNN) — Congressional Democrats are marching in lockstep into the fourth week of a government shutdown, even as lawmakers brace for what could be the most painful point yet: a cutoff in federal food aid for more than 40 million people.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are signaling that there will be no change in strategy – Democrats won’t provide the votes to reopen the government unless their demands over health care are met. And they’re increasingly hammering President Donald Trump for his failure to sit down to negotiate with Democrats, while instead embarking on his second foreign trip so far during the shutdown.

“This is all Trump,” a visibly frustrated Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont told CNN.

“Trump’s not engaged. Republicans won’t negotiate,” the Democrat said, arguing that Trump’s trip to Asia this week as “an indication of how he could care less.”

A fired-up Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was even more blunt, calling it “outrageous” that Trump would take another foreign trip with the government shut down.

“The message is, frankly, President Trump: ‘Stay in America. Put America first. Sit down with us and work this out,’” Warner said.

Democrats are maintaining fierce unity publicly and privately, with lawmakers and senior aides telling CNN that they are prepared to stick with the party’s strategy for the near future. The widespread belief among Democrats on Capitol Hill is that Republicans will be forced to cave first, particularly as they expect millions of Americans will find out their health care premiums are spiking when open enrollment begins on November 1.

But there’s another major deadline coming at the start of November. Washington is about to face what could be the most significant effect of the shutdown to date, with roughly 42 million people at risk of losing critical food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

“We understand this is not easy, and this is going to be painful,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, the No. 3 House Democrat, said when asked about the SNAP deadline, which is causing deep anxiety across Washington. “Everybody is feeling this, and I think that our message to the American public is, we’re fighting to protect your health care.”

The US Department of Agriculture said Sunday it will not use its $6 billion contingency fund to cover food stamp benefits next month as the government shutdown continues.

“Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01,” a statement on the USDA’s website states.

When asked Friday whether he would direct the USDA to fund food stamps next month, Trump told reporters: “Yeah, everybody is going to be in good shape, yep.” The president did not provide additional details, but his comments appeared to conflict with the agency’s statement.

Meanwhile, the head of a union representing more than 800,000 federal employees said in a Monday statement it was “past time” for the stalemate to end, for furloughed workers to be immediately put back to work and for those who missed their paychecks to receive back pay.

“It’s long past time for our leaders to put aside partisan politics and embrace responsible government,” wrote Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

Kelley called for lawmakers to pass a “clean” continuing resolution, or CR, to fund the government. Republicans have put forward such a resolution that would reopen the government in the short term – until November 21 – but Democrats have repeatedly blocked it.

Behind the scenes, GOP lawmakers and senior aides believe the White House is eager to find some way to keep those SNAP payments flowing to the poorest Americans. Members of both parties — including GOP and Democratic governors — have been furiously pushing the White House to find a way to avoid that outcome, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Democrats insist Trump can save the program if he wants to. And they’re ripping the White House for its $20 billion bailout to Argentina while the massive food aid program remains at risk.

“Not a single American should go hungry. And the challenge that we confront right now is that Donald Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill are trying to weaponize hunger in order to jam their extreme right wing policies in their spending bill down the throats of the American people,” Jeffries told reporters on Friday, arguing that the Trump administration has roughly $5 billion in an emergency contingency fund that could be used for the SNAP program.

As part of their pressure campaign, dozens of Democrats signed a letter to Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Friday, arguing that the administration has the existing funds and authority to fully fund SNAP benefits.

Rollins, however, has said that there will not be enough funds for the food aid benefits for millions by November 1 if Congress doesn’t act.

One GOP lawmaker — Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley — is so concerned about SNAP that he has introduced legislation to fund the program for the duration of the shutdown. Leavitt said Thursday the administration would support the bill, but it’s not clear whether it will come up.

Asked on Thursday whether Trump should work to alleviate some of the pressure points in the shutdown, like SNAP benefits, another GOP senator suggested there may be some procedural hurdles to doing so.

“I think it’s simpler said than done,” Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall responded, adding, “On the one hand, there needs to be some pressure to put on the Democrats to come to the table and do something.”

Marshall, who is also an obstetrician-gynecologist, said he had a “lot of concern” about the SNAP and WIC program. He observed, “It is very important to my practice. Lots of pregnant women, breastfeeding women use that program as well. I think it’s a good pressure point for them.”

GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said the solution for the shutdown’s various pressure points was “for the Democrats to vote to fund the government.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Adam Cancryn, Tami Luhby and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.