Uncertainty over food aid deepens as US shutdown fight reaches crisis point

The crises at the heart of the US government shutdown fight in Washington DC are coming to a head as the federal food assistance programme faces delays and millions of Americans are set to see a dramatic rise in their health insurance bills.

The impacts on basic needs – food and medical care – underscored how the impasse is hitting homes across the United States. The Trump administration’s plans to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme on Saturday were halted by federal judges, but the delay in payouts is still likely to leave millions of people short on their grocery bills.

It all added to the strain on the country, with a month of missed pay cheques for federal workers and growing air travel delays. The shutdown is already the second longest in history and entered its second month on Saturday, yet there was little urgency in Washington to end it, with members of Congress away from Capitol Hill and both parties entrenched in their positions.

The House of Representatives has not met for legislative business in more than six weeks, while Senate majority leader John Thune closed his chamber for the weekend after bipartisan talks failed to achieve significant progress.

Mr Thune said he is hoping “the pressure starts to intensify, and the consequences of keeping the government shut down become even more real for everybody that they will express, hopefully new interest in trying to come up with a path forward”.

The stalemate appears increasingly unsustainable as Republican President Donald Trump demands action and Democratic leaders warn that an uproar over rising health insurance costs will force Congress to act.

“This weekend, Americans face a healthcare crisis unprecedented in modern times,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said this week.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) planned to withhold payments to the food programme on Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to make them. Mr Trump said he would provide the money but wanted more legal direction from the court, which will not happen until Monday.

The programme serves about one in eight Americans and costs about 8 billion dollars per month. The judges agreed that the USDA needed to at least tap a contingency fund of about 5 billion dollars to keep the programme running. But that left some uncertainty about whether the department would use additional money or only provide partial benefits for the month.

Benefits will already be delayed because it takes a week or more to load Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (Snap) cards in many states.

“The Trump administration needs to follow the law and fix this problem immediately by working closely with states to get nutritional assistance to the millions who rely on it as soon as possible,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said in a statement following the ruling.

Dire situation 

Republicans, in responding to Democratic demands to fund Snap, say the programme is in such a dire situation because Democrats have repeatedly voted against a short-term government funding bill.

“We are now reaching a breaking point thanks to Democrats voting no on government funding, now 14 different times,” House speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference on Friday.

Mr Trump injected himself into the debate late on Thursday by suggesting that Republican senators, who hold the majority, end the shutdown by getting rid of the filibuster rules that prevent most legislation from advancing unless it has the support of at least 60 senators. Democrats have used the filibuster to block a funding bill in the Senate for weeks.

Republican leaders quickly rejected Mr Trump’s idea, but the discussion showed how desperate the fight has become.

The annual sign-up period for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance also begins on Saturday, and there are sharp increases in what people are paying for coverage. Enhanced tax credits that help most enrollees pay for the health plans are set to expire next year.

Democrats have rallied around a push to extend those credits and have refused to vote for government funding legislation until Congress acts.

‘Panicked’ 

Senator Patty Murray spoke on the Senate floor this week about constituents who she said face premium increases of up to 2,000 dollars a month if the credits expire.

“I am hearing from families in my state today who are panicked,” she said. “The time to act is now.”

If Congress does not extend the credits, subsidised enrollees will face cost increases of about 114%, or more than 1,000 dollars per year, on average, healthcare research non-profit organisation KFF found.

In the days before the start of open enrollment, Democratic politicians across the country warned that the cost increases would hit their constituents hard.

In Wisconsin, for example, families on the ACA’s silver plan could see premium increases of roughly 12,500 dollars to 24,500 dollars annually depending on their location. Sixty-year-old couples could face increases ranging from nearly 19,900 dollars to 33,150 dollars annually.

“No matter what the percentage is, it’s a hell of a lot,” Democratic governor of Wisconsin Tony Evers said.

Overhaul

Some Republicans in Congress have been open to the idea of extending the subsidies, but they also want to make major changes to the health overhaul enacted while Democrat Barack Obama was president.

Mr Thune has offered Democrats a vote on extending the benefits, but has not guaranteed a result.

Federal workers have now gone a month without a full pay cheque and the wear on the workforce is showing.

Major unions representing federal employees have called for an end to the shutdown, putting more pressure on Democrats to back off their healthcare demands. The president of the union representing air traffic controllers was the latest to urge Congress to pass legislation reopening the government so federal workers can get paid, and then lawmakers can engage in bipartisan negotiation on healthcare.

In a statement on Friday, Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said that financial and mental strain was increasing on the workforce, “making it less safe with each passing day of the shutdown”.