SNAP to it lawmakers!

For some, it was easy to conclude that the federal government shutdown wasn’t too serious. It’s only a partial shutdown; there are “only” 800,000 federal workers and their families affected, and they will get back pay eventually. Right? Actually, people live in real time, and the rest of the victims of this power play are only now beginning to seep into the public consciousness. For those who rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, it is already a matter of having food on the table for your family, or not. Last year 42 million people and families got help through SNAP, our nation’s largest nutrition assistance program. This year the money is already less than the amount required for full funding. In February the program will only receive partial funds, presumably for partial meals. And in March? As long as Department of Agriculture spending is cut off, nothing. Nada. Zip.

Worse, those who get help from the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program will get nothing beginning last week. No money is available to fund WIC in January, just as no money is available for the Food Distribution Program on Indian reservations either.

It’s ridiculous that we don’t have funds to pick up trash in national parks. It’s shocking that federal programs and workers will go without funding and pay. And, it is outrageous that we would allow the nation’s poorest women, children, and families to go without food because the programs that help are held hostage by the president’s insistence on a wall. Children, seniors, and veterans in particular rely on SNAP — the most vulnerable among us. Don’t they deserve to know where their next meal is coming from?

The House of Representatives has the right idea. On day one, they passed legislation to re-open the government without funding for the misguided wall. The Senate should follow suit. The president should put the American people above his power play once and for all.