To the editor:
I am outraged that Washington politicians are again playing games with people’s lives. Lawmakers are using the government shutdown to cut off SNAP benefits for 40 million Americans, including 16 million children. This is not a policy debate; it’s a moral failure.
SNAP helps families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities put food on the table. Yet, instead of extending vital tax credits that make health insurance more affordable, congressional leaders have shut down the government that now risks pushing millions deeper into poverty. Is this what governing has become? Holding food and health care hostage while the wealthy get tax breaks?
Thankfully, a federal judge has ordered the Trump Administration to use emergency funds to pay SNAP benefits during the shutdown. I demand the Trump Administration immediately release emergency funds to ensure full SNAP benefits are paid.
No one in America should have to choose between food and health care. Stop putting politics over people. Congress, get back to work and pass a bipartisan budget that funds SNAP, protects health care, and ends this needless shutdown.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Saulenas
Concord
