Ten GOP senators have signed on to support a bill by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the government shutdown threatens a lapse in money in November, The Hill reported on Tuesday.
The Keep SNAP Funded Act of 2025 would fund the food aid program for states nationwide until the government shutdown ends and the Department of Agriculture can receive its allotments through appropriations or stopgap measures.
“There is no reason any of these residents of my state — or any other American who qualifies for food assistance — should go hungry. We can afford to provide the help,” Hawley wrote in an essay for The New York Times on Tuesday.
“Preventing debilitating poverty through the food program costs only about a tenth of our annual defense budget,” he added, pointing out that 1.2 million SNAP beneficiaries are veterans.
The senator’s bill follows the Trump administration’s move to pay active-duty military personnel amid the shutdown. However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the one-time exception could not be continued next month if the federal shutdown extends into November.
Hawley has argued that spending on food aid is not an “optional extra, but a vital benefit to Americans that aligns with the country’s tradition of providing to those in need.
“Surely it is not hard to understand why SNAP is so essential to so many.
“The American economy has not been kind to working people in recent years,” Hawley wrote. “What cost $100 five years ago costs $125 today.
“So if you’re not earning 25% more than you were five years ago, you’re getting poorer. That’s most families in America. And nowhere do they feel it more than at the grocery store.”
The 10 Republican senators who have formed a coalition to advance Hawley’s bill are James Lankford (Oklahoma), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), Bernie Moreno (Ohio), Kevin Cramer (North Dakota), Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), Katie Britt (Alabama), Jon Husted (Ohio) and John Cornyn (Texas).
The only Democrat to co-sponsor the legislation is Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.
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