1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

It must be nice to not have to think about how you will feed yourself day to day. It must be nice to have the power to make a large portion of the country you were elected to serve instead starve in the name of political power. It must be nice to not have to give a damn about anything but whatever it is you want at the moment. Yesterday the Trump administration said it would not use any of the approximately $6B the USDA holds in reserve to fund SNAP. The government shutdown means that states have run out of funds to distribute to the more than 42M Americans who rely on SNAP to put food on the table. Even though this position contradicts the shutdown plan the USDA released in late September. Then, it said: “Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds that can be used for State Administrative Expenses to ensure that the State can also continue operations during a Federal Government shutdown. These multi-year contingency funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.” But the latest USDA memo also says that any states that tap their own resources to provide food benefits will not be reimbursed. Extortion plain and simple. Instead of help for citizens, in yet another blatant violation of the Hatch Act, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website reads: “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.” What political hack wrote this? We refuse to feed hungry Americans, but the administration easily found $20B to prop up right-wing Trump ally Javier Milei in Argentina. And likely another $20B in addition. The House remains MIA. We might as well not have a Congress since half of it could are less about governing, so no biggie. Because as the president has mused… “I’m the speaker and the president.” So y’all might as well pack up your offices and call it a day. Your part in government has become non-existent. Just hope you don’t find yourselves needing government assistance to feed your families.