"...behind the SNAP problem are the expiring Affordable Care Act credits, and behind the Affordable Care Act credits is a half trillion dollar cut to Medicare," said Senator Whitehouse.
Whitehouse Slams Administration’s Refusal to Fully Fund SNAP
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the following statement after the Trump administration refused to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):
“Despite having the funds to provide full SNAP benefits to families in Rhode Island, the Trump administration has instead chosen to do the bare minimum by only releasing partial benefits for November. Holding food assistance hostage and using hungry children as bargaining chips is senseless and cruel. Families deserve better, and I urge Trump to fully fund SNAP during an already painful Republican government shutdown.”
More than 140,000 Rhode Islanders rely on SNAP benefits. Each month, Rhode Island receives about $29 million to administer the SNAP program across the state.
Last month, Whitehouse joined U.S. Senator Cory Booker and forty-four of their Senate colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins urging the Trump Administration not to delay or deny SNAP funds to states.
Reed Rebukes Trump for Only Partially Funding SNAP Despite Having Legal Authority and Funds to Fully Fund Program
After deleting its own authorized contingency plan and refusing to release billions of dollars in emergency funds, the Trump Administration was required to provide a compliance update to a federal court order that issued a temporary restraining order directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue November benefit payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed issued the following statement after the Trump Administration begrudgingly announced it is choosing to only partially fund SNAP:
“It’s outrageous that it took a court order for President Trump to follow the law and fund SNAP. He’s had the money and authority all along. His half-baked approach to only provide partial funding hurts the whole country and underscores Trump’s gross mismanagement. This is about Trump actively denying food assistance to millions of children and vulnerable seniors while he’s simultaneously increasing costs, hurting local economies, and pushing more people into poverty.”
SNAP is a nutrition assistance lifeline that helps feed 16 million children, 8 million seniors, 4 million disabled Americans, and many more who struggle to make ends meet -- people who work hard but don’t earn a living wage.
Trump’s move to delay and deny the federal funding comes after Senate Republican leaders blocked consideration of both the Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act, introduced by U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and the Keep SNAP Funded Act, introduced by U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO). Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) refused to put Senator Hawley’s bipartisan bill to keep SNAP benefits flowing up for a vote—despite the fact that it has the necessary votes to pass.
It also comes on the heels of President Trump and Congressional Republicans enacting the largest cuts to SNAP in American history this summer—and both President Trump’s budget request and House Republicans’ draft fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill cut WIC benefits for millions of moms and kids.
Those who rely on SNAP to buy groceries for themselves and their families make up about 12 percent of all grocery sales nationwide, according to the National Grocers Association.
Grocery stores typically time larger shipments of goods to the start of the month to coincide with the reloading of EBT cards. Smaller grocers and convenience stores, particularly those located in areas with high concentrations of SNAP recipients, make up a majority of the stores that accept SNAP credits and often have smaller margins to navigate the financial strain on their customer base. A drop in sales could lead to layoffs and increased costs for all consumers.
Wiuthholding food aid is a crime against humanity and Trump should be tried at the Hague International Criminal Court, though they rarely go after sitting heads of state.
One purpose of Project 2025, as I understand it, is to reduce our population from about 340 million to 100 million. Eliminating SNAP, Affordable Care, Medicaid, and Medicare gets them on their way.
Reed Rips Trump for Threatening to Defy Courts & Unlawfully Withhold SNAP
Despite the fact that the Trump Administration has the money and authority to fully and immediately fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), President Trump appeared today to threaten to defy court orders and withhold SNAP Assistance to 42 million low-income Americans until the end of the government shutdown.
SNAP is a nutrition assistance lifeline that helps feed 42 million Americans, including 16 million children, 8 million seniors, 4 million disabled Americans, and many more who struggle to make ends meet -- people who work hard but don’t earn a living wage.
A day after saying his administration would comply with a federal court order and pay out at least half a month of SNAP benefits using contingency funds -- which Treasury Secretary Bessent said could happen as soon as tomorrow -- President Trump today seemed to pull an about face when he posted on social media that SNAP: “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) blasted President Trump for seeming to willfully threaten SNAP benefits for millions of Americans across the country:
“It sure seems desperate and indecent to willfully withhold food aid from needy kids and seniors on fixed incomes. It would be indefensible for President Trump to try and take food off the plates of vulnerable children and inflict mass-suffering on their families. President Trump is trying to bully Americans. His budget would push millions more into poverty in order to give billionaires a bigger tax benefit. The government is supposed to work for the American people and improve their lives, not deny them services and shrink opportunity. As we approach Thanksgiving, I believe Americans will strongly condemn President Trump for trying to bully kids, the elderly, sick, disabled, and vulnerable. Democrats are fighting to lower prices, save health care, and reopen the federal government. And we will hold President Trump accountable.”
Magaziner Statement on Trump Withholding SNAP Benefits in Defiance of Court Order
WARWICK, RI – On Tuesday, November 4, 2025, U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner (RI-02) released the following statement in response to President Trump’s post on Truth Social indicating that he will withhold SNAP funding, despite a court order to release the funds.
“President Trump continues to use hunger as a political weapon, depriving 40 million Americans – most of them children and the elderly – of SNAP benefits in defiance of a court order. It is horrific that an American President would give $40 billion to Argentina while depriving his own citizens of food.”
FROM A PRESS RELEASE:
Whitehouse Slams Administration’s Refusal to Fully Fund SNAP
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the following statement after the Trump administration refused to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):
“Despite having the funds to provide full SNAP benefits to families in Rhode Island, the Trump administration has instead chosen to do the bare minimum by only releasing partial benefits for November. Holding food assistance hostage and using hungry children as bargaining chips is senseless and cruel. Families deserve better, and I urge Trump to fully fund SNAP during an already painful Republican government shutdown.”
More than 140,000 Rhode Islanders rely on SNAP benefits. Each month, Rhode Island receives about $29 million to administer the SNAP program across the state.
Last month, Whitehouse joined U.S. Senator Cory Booker and forty-four of their Senate colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins urging the Trump Administration not to delay or deny SNAP funds to states.
FROM A PRESS RELEASE:
Reed Rebukes Trump for Only Partially Funding SNAP Despite Having Legal Authority and Funds to Fully Fund Program
After deleting its own authorized contingency plan and refusing to release billions of dollars in emergency funds, the Trump Administration was required to provide a compliance update to a federal court order that issued a temporary restraining order directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue November benefit payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed issued the following statement after the Trump Administration begrudgingly announced it is choosing to only partially fund SNAP:
“It’s outrageous that it took a court order for President Trump to follow the law and fund SNAP. He’s had the money and authority all along. His half-baked approach to only provide partial funding hurts the whole country and underscores Trump’s gross mismanagement. This is about Trump actively denying food assistance to millions of children and vulnerable seniors while he’s simultaneously increasing costs, hurting local economies, and pushing more people into poverty.”
SNAP is a nutrition assistance lifeline that helps feed 16 million children, 8 million seniors, 4 million disabled Americans, and many more who struggle to make ends meet -- people who work hard but don’t earn a living wage.
Trump’s move to delay and deny the federal funding comes after Senate Republican leaders blocked consideration of both the Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act, introduced by U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and the Keep SNAP Funded Act, introduced by U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO). Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) refused to put Senator Hawley’s bipartisan bill to keep SNAP benefits flowing up for a vote—despite the fact that it has the necessary votes to pass.
It also comes on the heels of President Trump and Congressional Republicans enacting the largest cuts to SNAP in American history this summer—and both President Trump’s budget request and House Republicans’ draft fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill cut WIC benefits for millions of moms and kids.
Those who rely on SNAP to buy groceries for themselves and their families make up about 12 percent of all grocery sales nationwide, according to the National Grocers Association.
Grocery stores typically time larger shipments of goods to the start of the month to coincide with the reloading of EBT cards. Smaller grocers and convenience stores, particularly those located in areas with high concentrations of SNAP recipients, make up a majority of the stores that accept SNAP credits and often have smaller margins to navigate the financial strain on their customer base. A drop in sales could lead to layoffs and increased costs for all consumers.
Wiuthholding food aid is a crime against humanity and Trump should be tried at the Hague International Criminal Court, though they rarely go after sitting heads of state.
One purpose of Project 2025, as I understand it, is to reduce our population from about 340 million to 100 million. Eliminating SNAP, Affordable Care, Medicaid, and Medicare gets them on their way.
From a press release:
Reed Rips Trump for Threatening to Defy Courts & Unlawfully Withhold SNAP
Despite the fact that the Trump Administration has the money and authority to fully and immediately fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), President Trump appeared today to threaten to defy court orders and withhold SNAP Assistance to 42 million low-income Americans until the end of the government shutdown.
SNAP is a nutrition assistance lifeline that helps feed 42 million Americans, including 16 million children, 8 million seniors, 4 million disabled Americans, and many more who struggle to make ends meet -- people who work hard but don’t earn a living wage.
A day after saying his administration would comply with a federal court order and pay out at least half a month of SNAP benefits using contingency funds -- which Treasury Secretary Bessent said could happen as soon as tomorrow -- President Trump today seemed to pull an about face when he posted on social media that SNAP: “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) blasted President Trump for seeming to willfully threaten SNAP benefits for millions of Americans across the country:
“It sure seems desperate and indecent to willfully withhold food aid from needy kids and seniors on fixed incomes. It would be indefensible for President Trump to try and take food off the plates of vulnerable children and inflict mass-suffering on their families. President Trump is trying to bully Americans. His budget would push millions more into poverty in order to give billionaires a bigger tax benefit. The government is supposed to work for the American people and improve their lives, not deny them services and shrink opportunity. As we approach Thanksgiving, I believe Americans will strongly condemn President Trump for trying to bully kids, the elderly, sick, disabled, and vulnerable. Democrats are fighting to lower prices, save health care, and reopen the federal government. And we will hold President Trump accountable.”
Magaziner Statement on Trump Withholding SNAP Benefits in Defiance of Court Order
WARWICK, RI – On Tuesday, November 4, 2025, U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner (RI-02) released the following statement in response to President Trump’s post on Truth Social indicating that he will withhold SNAP funding, despite a court order to release the funds.
“President Trump continues to use hunger as a political weapon, depriving 40 million Americans – most of them children and the elderly – of SNAP benefits in defiance of a court order. It is horrific that an American President would give $40 billion to Argentina while depriving his own citizens of food.”