House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., signaled Monday that the looming funding cliff affecting benefits for roughly 42 million Americans may not be enough to persuade Democrats to break the government shutdown.
According to Fox News, while speaking on Day 34 of the fiscal standoff, which has closed numerous federal offices and programs, Jeffries criticized the Trump administration for letting SNAP benefits lapse on Nov. 1. When asked if Democrats voting for the GOP funding bill would be the best way to fix the issue, he replied flatly: “No.”
Jeffries argued that the administration could fund SNAP if it chose to, noting past spending decisions:
“The easiest way to fund SNAP is for the administration to do exactly what it’s done in so many other instances, including the administration finding $40 billion in order to bail out their right-wing dictator-wannabe friend in Argentina,” he said. “They found $40 billion and now want to claim that they can’t find a cent in order to make sure that millions of Americans don’t go hungry.”
He accused President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans of making an “intentional, vicious choice” after the administration said it could not reshuffle funds into SNAP without affecting other vulnerable Americans, including children.
“Not a single American should go hungry. Not a single American. And it’s the fault of Republicans that that is happening in this country right now,” Jeffries said.
The comments came after the Trump administration announced it would use nearly all of the SNAP emergency contingency fund to provide food-stamp recipients 50% of their November benefits, following a judge’s ruling Friday. The fund, estimated at just over $5 billion, is far short of the $9 billion normally needed to cover a month’s benefits, and the administration warned that distributing partial funds could take weeks due to administrative delays.
Despite this, Jeffries indicated the looming chaos around food benefits — which could leave millions of Americans with insufficient support ahead of Thanksgiving — would not force Democrats to compromise.
Republicans are pushing a “clean” short-term funding bill to give lawmakers until Nov. 21 to reach a deal on federal spending for fiscal year 2026. Democrats, however, have repeatedly rejected the measure, insisting that any spending bill include concessions on GOP healthcare cuts.
“We will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people. That’s been our position week after week after week. And it will continue to be our position because the Republican healthcare crisis is crushing the American people,” Jeffries said.
