Donald Trump said on Friday, October 31, that he was ready to finance the main public food aid program in the United States, a few hours before its suspension caused by a budget paralysis that has lasted for a month and with no end in sight.
After more than four weeks of “closure” and the technical unemployment of hundreds of thousands of civil servants, disruptions in air traffic and the closure of national parks, the effects of the blockade must extend to the 42 million Americans who depend on the Snap program, which the federal State must stop funding during the night from Friday to Saturday.
“MY HONOR”
After a federal judge, sued by associations, on Friday ordered the government to use emergency funds to finance Snap, Donald Trump declared himself open to that solution.
“They will have real people, real families, they will have children, who will suffer hunger this weekend,” Republican tenor Mike Johnson had previously launched, accusing the Democratic opposition of “continuing their political games in Washington.” Donald Trump’s Agriculture Minister, Brooke Rollins, stated that the SNAP program would run out of funds after a month of “shutdown.”
Health spending that will skyrocket
Faced with the possibility of food aid running out, some Americans are already organizing a chain of solidarity. “I’m just shocked by the way our country treats families and children,” Kerry Chausmer, a resident of Washington’s inner suburbs, told AFP who will help two families pay for their groceries in the absence of aid.
On Saturday, new health insurance costs will be announced for the more than 24 million Americans whose coverage is through the federal “Obamacare” program. And with public subsidies for this program set to expire at the end of the year, costs are likely to skyrocket, according to think tank KFF.
The issue of “Obamacare” subsidies is at the center of the confrontation in Congress between Republicans and Democrats, who cannot agree on a new budget. Donald Trump’s party proposes expanding the current budget, with the same spending levels, while the opposition calls for an expansion of these subsidies.
Even if Republicans had a majority in the Senate, several Democratic votes are needed to end the “shutdown” and pass a budget.
“It’s all their fault.”
Most polls so far indicate that Americans point primarily to the presidential party. According to an opinion poll for ABC and the Washington Post published on Thursday, 45% of respondents attribute responsibility for the “shutdown” primarily to Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, compared to 33% to elected Democrats.
While military pay could have been paid in October following a decision by Donald Trump, it is not certain that such a measure will be possible in November. And the more than 1.3 million Americans in the service could join the 1.4 million civil servants whose salaries have already been frozen for a month.
At the same time, air traffic disruptions continue due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, with some choosing to call in sick rather than work without pay. New York’s JFK airport, one of the largest in the country, had to stop all departures and arrivals for an hour and a half on Friday.
On both the Democratic and Republican sides, some hope that a solution to the crisis may come from an intervention by Donald Trump, who intervened on behalf of the military and now Snap beneficiaries, but remained on the sidelines of the debates over the budget paralysis.
On Friday he reiterated his promise to negotiate with Democrats on their demands, but only after the shutdown is lifted. “We will see each other very soon, but they must reopen the country,” said the Republican upon his arrival in Florida, where he will spend the weekend at his luxurious Mar-a-Lago residence. “It’s his fault, it’s all his fault,” Donald Trump added.
Source: BFM TV
