Copyright Everett Herald
By Suzan DelBene / For The Herald Earlier this year, Marysville resident Gail Nigro was experiencing health problems and needed some extra assistance to keep food on the table and pay her health care bills. She signed up for Washington’s Basic Food program, the name we give to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to help her buy groceries. Gail is one of the 900,000 Washingtonians — many women, seniors, children, and people with disabilities — who rely on this critical program. After months of reliable support, she isn’t sure if her benefits will be there after Friday because the Trump administration is withholding SNAP funds as leverage in their government shutdown. Since the start of this year, congressional Republicans and President Trump have repeatedly advanced policies that have weakened and cut SNAP, taking food away from hungry families. The federal government shutdown is only the latest example. Right now, Washington and other states only have enough money to pay SNAP benefits until the end of October. The Trump administration recently warned states that there would be “insufficient funds” to pay for the program as of November. Their claim simply isn’t true. The federal government has enough money to cover most of the benefits for the next month in a contingency fund that was created by Congress for a moment just like this. The administration is fully able to release it right now. If President Trump does not fund SNAP for November, it’s a choice he is making. But since the start of the Republican shutdown, the president has been deliberately withholding funding to punish Americans and individual states, primarily those that he perceives as not supporting him. He cut off more than $1 billion for energy and manufacturing projects in the Pacific Northwest. He illegally fired more than 4,000 federal workers who protect us from disease outbreaks, process our tax returns and support students with disabilities. Withholding food assistance funds is just the latest example and one that will impact people in every state across the country. It’s hard to see this as anything but intentionally causing harm. In sharp contrast, my Democratic colleagues and I are fighting for hard-working families who are struggling to make ends meet. Nearly every Democrat in the House recently demanded the administration release the SNAP funding and get back to the negotiating table so we can end this shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has refused to call the House back in session for more than a month, and this SNAP crisis is just one of the consequences of their prolonged shutdown. But Republicans targeting SNAP shouldn’t surprise anyone given their track record this year. In their megabill that was signed into law earlier this year, Republicans made the largest reduction to SNAP in the program’s history, cutting nearly $200 billion so they could pay for another massive tax break for the wealthy. This puts Washington state on the hook for $200 million, and the governor recently said these cuts will force benefit reductions for every SNAP recipient in our state. On top of the cuts themselves, Trump’s tariffs are devaluing what people can buy with their benefits. These reckless and illegal tariffs have raised prices at the grocery store on common products like meat, coffee and produce. The average SNAP benefit per recipient is about $6 per day, which leaves little wiggle room for price increases like this. Cutting SNAP doesn’t just hurt families, it damages our entire economy. About 1 in 8 Americans receive SNAP. Every dollar spent from the program generates over $1.50 in economic activity, primarily through investing in local farmers and food producers who have seen a sharp drop in foreign countries buying American products in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs. We shouldn’t leave people like Gail in the position of choosing between her health care and putting food on the table. The president and Republicans need to stop playing political games with people’s livelihoods. We need to release the existing SNAP funds and end this shutdown so people aren’t left wondering when their next meal is. The only way this shutdown ends is through a bipartisan solution. It’s time for Republicans to come to the table and get it done. U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., represents the state’s 1st Congressional District.
