WASHINGTON (AP) —Top Democrats in the Senate aren’t satisfied with the Trump administration committing to partially funding the food assistance program known as SNAP.
The program costs about $8 billion per month nationally. The government says an emergency fund it will use during the government shutdown has $4.65 billion — enough to cover about half the normal benefits.
“USDA has the authority to fully fund SNAP and needs to do so immediately. Anything else is unacceptable,” tweeted Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
“Trump should have paid SNAP benefits all along,” tweeted Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Just now paying the bare minimum to partially fund SNAP is not enough, and it is not acceptable.”