Uncertainty over federal food aid deepens as the shutdown fight reaches a crisis point

WASHINGTON (AP) – The crises at the heart of the government shutdown fight in Washington were coming to a head Saturday as the federal food assistance program faced delays and millions of Americans were set to see a dramatic rise in their health insurance bills.

The impacts on basic needs – food and medical care – underscored how the impasse is hitting homes across the United States. Plans by the Trump administration to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Saturday were halted by federal judges, but the delay in payouts will still likely leave millions of people short on their grocery bills.

It all added to the strain on the country, with a month of missed paychecks for federal workers and growing air travel delays. The shutdown is already the second longest in history and entered its second month on Saturday, yet there was little urgency in Washington to end it. Lawmakers are away from Capitol Hill and both parties are entrenched in their positions.

The House has not met for legislative business in more than six weeks, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., closed his chamber for the weekend after bipartisan talks failed to achieve significant progress.

Thune said he is hoping “the pressure starts to intensify, and the consequences of keeping the government shut down become even more real for everybody that they will express, hopefully new interest in trying to come up with a path forward.”

The stalemate appears increasingly unsustainable as Republican President Donald Trump demands action and Democratic leaders warn that an uproar over rising health insurance costs will force Congress to act.

“This weekend, Americans face a health care crisis unprecedented in modern times,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said this week.

The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold payments to the food program starting on Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to make them. Trump said he would provide the money but wanted more legal direction from the court, which will not happen until Monday.

Benefits were already facing delays because it takes a week or more to load SNAP cards in many states. Some governors and mayors have stepped in, using what money they have available to fill the program that feeds about 42 million Americans.

“People are just nervous, scared,” said Jill Corbin, the director of the St. Vincent De Paul soup kitchen and food pantry in Norwich, Connecticut. “It’s not really a definite answer that we have right now.”

As people lined up early Saturday for hot meals and groceries, the organization had 10 extra volunteers to help newcomers navigate the process. On Wednesday, some 400 families visited the food pantry and 555 people received hot meals.

“It’s kind of like everything is unraveling at the same time,” Corbin said. “I’m not going to lie. It is challenging.”

The SNAP program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and costs about $8 billion per month. The judges agreed that the USDA needed to at least tap a contingency fund of about $5 billion to keep the program running. But that left some uncertainty about whether the department would use additional money or only provide partial benefits for the month.

“Trump and Republicans are illegally withholding SNAP benefits. Millions of children could go hungry,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York in a social media post that also criticized the president for spending Saturday at one of his Florida golf courses.

Democrats demanded this week that the government fund SNAP, but Republicans responded by arguing the program is in such a dire situation because Democrats have repeatedly voted against a short-term government funding bill.

“We are now reaching a breaking point thanks to Democrats voting no on government funding, now 14 different times,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a news conference Friday.

Trump injected himself into the debate late Thursday by suggesting that Republican senators, who hold the majority, end the shutdown by getting rid of the filibuster rules that prevent most legislation from advancing unless it has the support of at least 60 senators. Democrats have used the filibuster to block a funding bill in the Senate for weeks.

Republican leaders quickly rejected Trump’s idea, but the discussion showed how desperate the fight has become.

The annual sign-up period for the Affordable Care Act health insurance also begins Saturday, and there are sharp increases in what people are paying for coverage. Enhanced tax credits that help most enrollees pay for the health plans are set to expire next year.

Democrats have rallied around a push to extend those credits and have refused to vote for government funding legislation until Congress acts.

“Millions of Americans in every state across this country are waking up to drastically higher premiums for the same health care coverage they’re already on — all because Congress could not come together to extend the vital enhanced premium tax credits that make health care more affordable,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., in a statement.

If Congress does not extend the credits, subsidized enrollees will face cost increases of about 114%, or more than $1,000 per year, on average, health care research nonprofit KFF found.

In the days before the start of open enrollment, Democratic officials across the country warned that the cost increases would hit their constituents hard.

In Wisconsin, for example, families on the ACA’s silver plan could see premium increases of roughly $12,500 to $24,500 annually depending on their location. Sixty-year-old couples could face increases ranging from nearly $19,900 to $33,150 annually.

“No matter what the percentage is, it’s a hell of a lot,” Gov. Tony Evers, D-Wis., said.

Some Republicans in Congress have been open to the idea of extending the subsidies, but they also want to make major changes to the health overhaul enacted while Democrat Barack Obama was president. Thune has offered Democrats a vote on extending the benefits, but has not guaranteed a result. And he is demanding that Democrats first vote to reopen the government.

So the country waits and watches for Congress to act.

T.J. McCuin, whose family owns and operates farmers markets in Mesa and Apache Junction, Arizona, said 15% of the markets’ customers use SNAP benefits. He was not assuming the delays would immediately hurt the business, but added, “Hopefully this isn’t a long-term problem because once those benefits run out, then it’s going to start to hurt.”

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Haigh reported from Norwich, Conn. Associated Press writers Todd Richmond in Madison, Wis., Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.