Trump to partly fund SNAP as shutdown talks progress

What happened

The Trump administration said Monday it will drain a food aid contingency fund to pay for about 50% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in November, complying with orders from two federal courts. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) Monday night blocked a Democratic measure to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fully fund SNAP, calling it a “political stunt” from a party refusing to fully fund the government. But yesterday also saw the “first glimmers toward ending” the “near-record long federal government shutdown,” Reuters said.

Who said what

Senators from both parties “are newly optimistic” that the shutdown “might soon come to an end,” The Washington Post said. Democrats hope Democratic victories in key gubernatorial elections Tuesday “could make Republicans question their shutdown strategy” and convince them to “negotiate an end” to the impasse, while Republicans suggest their Democratic colleagues “will be more willing to compromise once the election is over” and they won’t worry about disappointing their voters.

“I’m optimistic” that “we’re getting close to an off-ramp,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters yesterday. “I sense that, too,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “People are tired of this shutdown,” though “we’re still stuck with this premise of what we’re going to do about health care costs.” Things “just feel better this week,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, but “it could all fall apart again.”

There’s “no question that many lawmakers feel far closer to reopening the government than they did a week ago,” Semafor said, but they need to address a “complex series of connected issues” first. Lawmakers had “hoped that previous inflection points,” including the SNAP cutoff, “would change the dynamics of the shutdown,” the Post said, but none successfully forced “the parties to the negotiating table.”

What next?

Exhausting the $5.25 billion SNAP backup fund “potentially sets the stage for a similar situation in December if the shutdown isn’t resolved by then,” said The Associated Press. USDA official Patrick Penn said in a court filing Monday that the administration expects “at least some states” to need “up to several months” to implement the “system changes” required to “provide the reduced benefit amounts.”