The USDA said in a Friday memo it couldn’t use contingency funds or money from other sources to cover all or part of the roughly $8 billion needed for November’s SNAP allotment. The position seemed to contradict a September contingency plan, since deleted from the USDA’s website, that said Congress intended “that SNAP’s operations should continue” and that contingency funds “are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”
“There are clear steps the administration can and must take immediately to ensure that millions of families across the country can put food on their table in November,” congressional Democrats said in a letter to the USDA on Friday. “Choosing not to ensure SNAP benefits reach those in need this November would be a gross dereliction of your responsibilities to the American people.”
Thanks again Burchett, Blackburn, Hagerty, etc. for "flailing and failing".
Update:
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb joined 22 attorneys general and three governors Tuesday in suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Brooke Rollins, accusing them of unlawfully suspending the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps more than 40 million Americans afford food.
Of course, not from Tennessee.
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GOP Senators scrambling to
GOP Senators scrambling to fund SNAP.
Guess the president will sign this bill?
When will they realize this president is not forthe people?
Great News on Oct 30!
(link...)
Thank God. I've never seen politicians deliberately starve children strictly for political gain. It was both terrifying and telling. Here's hoping that this brings the Republicans to the table.
Thanks for the update.
(in reply to fischbobber)
Thanks for the update.
"Judge says she’ll likely order Trump administration to send SNAP funds to states"
Thanks to the Democrats for taking this to the courts.
two week reprieve.
(in reply to bizgrrl)
It's my understanding funding is available beyond that, but is likely off the table. We should have stood up to these insurrectionists in 2020 when they first showed us who they were. Instead, locally, we allowed them to destroy our emergency response system. Our hospitals have yet to recover. Now, here we are. Be non-violent and peaceful. Trump and Jacobs would just as soon kill you. Keep that in mind during any civil disobedience.
A brief thank you to those stepping up.
(in reply to fischbobber)
I'd like to thank everyone who stepped up this week and helped get our pantry system up and running. These next two underfunded weeks will be our dry run for dealing with the ongoing budget cuts to SNAP. Tim has decided to cut 186 BILLION dollars from our SNAP and WIC programs, leaving whole segments of our society open to starvation. He's literally stealing formula from infants. So what can we do? First, get real./ Starving your citizens is a recognized act of war. It's a terrorist tactic condemned by governments arounds the world. It's in violation of international law. It is universally recognized as a crime against humanity. These are the sort of actions that get one executed when regimes fall. There's a movie called "The Nuremberg Trials" coming out about doing stuff like this. I'd like to reach out once again to members of the community wondering how to help. My best answer, look around and see if you can do something small. This is something small, but looking out for each other has it's own rewards. I would have one request for parents of school children. Please send an extra lunch to school with your child. These are your children's friends that are being starved by the Federal and state, and County governments. Starvation and food deprivation are tactics of war designed to waste their enemy into compliance, only, most of the enemy here is their own kind. Tim Burchett is forcing famine on loyal Republican voters. Teach your children compassion and empathy. Send an extra lunch and set no conditions on who gets it. It's not a child's fault that their parent is starving them to prove their loyalty to the Republican Party. Nobody should be taking this out on children. No child should go hungry because corrupt political leaders are stealing from the citizens and funneling that money to oligarchs. They need to eat and it's up to the adults to make sure food is there for them, regardless of the sins of their parents.
An explanation of happening in our Agriculture and FDA dept.
Here is a brief overview of what Tim Burchett and Trump are doing. Tim is participating in a terrorist act of war against his own constituents. AI Overview
Weaponizing famine means deliberately using starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare or political subjugation. This is a grave breach of international law and constitutes a war crime.
Methods
The weaponization of famine is a man-made crisis, distinct from natural food insecurity, and can involve several deliberate strategies:
Manipulating or blocking food aid access: Willfully impeding humanitarian relief supplies is a direct violation of international law.
Targeting agricultural infrastructure: Destroying or rendering useless objects indispensable to survival, such as farms, crops, livestock, and water installations.
Imposing sieges and blockades: Encirclement of a populated area with the specific intent of cutting off all sustenance to coerce a population or enemy forces into submission.
Destroying the local economy/food systems: Creating an environment where food becomes inaccessible due to high prices or the collapse of normal distribution channels.
International Law
The legal framework against weaponizing famine has evolved over time:
Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols: The 1977 Additional Protocols I and II explicitly prohibit the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC): The Rome Statute criminalizes intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in international armed conflicts. An amendment in 2019 extended this to non-international armed conflicts as well.
UN Security Council Resolution 2417: Adopted in 2018, this resolution strongly condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and warns that such acts may constitute war crimes.
Examples in Modern History
Examples of man-made famines attributed to the deliberate use of hunger as a weapon of war include:
The Holodomor in Ukraine (1932-1933): A deliberate famine under Stalin's regime through forced collectivization and excessive grain requisitions to break the resistance of Ukrainian farmers.
The Biafran Famine (1967-1970): Nigerian forces imposed a blockade on the secessionist state of Biafra, leading to an estimated 2 million civilian deaths from starvation.
Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, and Tigray: In recent conflicts in these regions, various parties have been accused by human rights organizations of using starvation tactics, such as obstructing aid and destroying infrastructure.
Gaza (ongoing): Human rights groups and UN experts have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war through its blockade and restrictions on aid, which is currently a subject of ICC proceedings.
Sudan (ongoing): Since fighting began in 2023, both sides of the conflict have been accused of blocking or stealing aid, potentially leading to a massive hunger crisis.
Despite its clear prohibition under international law, prosecutions for the standalone crime of starvation have been rare, with a lack of political will cited as a major hurdle to accountability.
Admin will partially fund November SNAP benefits
Trump administration must continue food aid during shutdown, US judges say
administration tells judge it will partially fund SNAP benefits using contingency funds
Trump defying court order.
(in reply to bizgrrl)
I think I just heard Trump will defy that court order.
Wtf! I heard that but
(in reply to fischbobber)
Wtf! I heard that but couldn't believe it.
Occupy Democrats Take
(in reply to bizgrrl)
Occupy Democrats
2h
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BREAKING: Trump admits he’s holding food stamp money HOSTAGE to try to force Democrats to cave on the shutdown in an infuriating rant!
Writing on social media, Trump declared that “SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly “handed” to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT”
He’s just saying it out in the open. The president of the United States is holding desperately needed funding for food HOSTAGE in order to force Democrats to give up and re-open the government without securing the subsidy extensions needed to stop millions of people from losing their healthcare.
This is one of the most cynically evil things a leader has ever done, and it communicates loud and clear that there is no amount of suffering or hardship heaped on the American people that could move Trump off of his appalling political agenda. Weaponizing hunger is a crime against humanity, and Congress needs to take action immediately to get food to the people that need it.