Shutdown enters Day 28 as Trump warns SNAP benefits will end

WASHINGTON ‒ The federal government shutdown entered Day 28 on Tuesday as the Trump administration warned Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will end on Nov. 1 if the government remains closed.

The Agriculture Department in a recent memo said it can’t use contingency funds to pay for SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps, contradicting previous guidance that said the money was available “in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.” About 42 million Americans would lose their SNAP benefits.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the department said on its website. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 1. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

President Donald Trump, currently on an Asian tour, has warned repeatedly that “Democrat programs” could be cut if the shutdown, already the second longest, drags on. The White House has laid off thousands of federal workers ‒ in addition to the 775,000 employees placed on furlough ‒ and halted infrastructure projects in Democratic-led cities.

Democrats accused the administration of choosing to cut food stamps when it isn’t necessary. “Yes, they’re using the shutdown to turn off SNAP benefits. No, they don’t have to,” Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, said in a post on X.

Senate Democrats are refusing to advance a short-term government funding measure until Republicans agree to restore major cuts to Obamacare.

Trump won’t try for a third term, Johnson says

Johnson said he doesn’t believe President Trump has any real inclination to attempt to defy the Constitution and run for a third term.

“There is the 22nd Amendment,” he told reporters. “I think the president knows. And he and I have talked about the constrictions of the Constitution.”

The comments follow former West Wing aide Steve Bannon’s recent suggestions to the news outlet The Economist that “there is a plan” for Trump to run for the White House again in 2028. The Constitution prevents any president from serving two four-year terms, regardless of whether they were consecutive.

Why did WIC get temporary funding but not SNAP?

Speaker Johnson told reporters the Trump administration had found creative ways to cover benefits under the Women Infants and Children program and to pay the military but could find no option to keep Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The Pentagon shifted funding to pay troops Oct. 15 but warned the option won’t be available for the next paycheck Oct. 31. Johnson said WIC continued because administration lawyers found a 1930s statute that said tariff revenue could fund the program because so much food was transported across the border.

“They’ve done some creative, amazing things to mitigate, to lessen the pain as much as possible,” Johnson said.

But administration lawyers couldn’t find a statute to justify continuing SNAP benefits, which go to 42 million Americans and will run out of funding Nov. 1.

“They did the legal research but they could not find a 1930s statute to bootstrap that,” Johnson said. “It’s out of our hands. That’s why we’re so frustrated.”

GOP touts union support for ending shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, urged Senate Democrats to join Republicans in reopening the government because the largest union of federal workers gave them a reason to change course.

The American Federation of Government Employees issued a statement Oct. 27 urging lawmakers to reopen the government.

“You have an off-ramp now,” Johnson told reporters Oct. 28. “The largest unions are saying please do this.”

He said air-traffic controllers, who are considered essential workers who stay on the job during shutdowns but don’t receive paychecks, have distributed fliers at airports to explain the safety concerns about the shutdown. More than 8,000 flights were delayed Oct. 26 as controller absences mounted and as they faced their first missed paycheck Oct. 28.

“Some are turning to food banks, as we’ve discussed, in order to feed their families,” said the third-ranking House leader, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota.

Shutdown a ‘very stressful time’ for military families: House veteran

A military veteran, Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told reporters at a Republican news conference that families of troops deployed overseas are worried about paychecks drying up during the shutdown.

“This is a very stressful time for military families,” said Pfluger, who served 20 years in the Air Force and is now chair of the Republican Study Committee.

Military families are worried about paying the rent, buy groceries or put gas in the car while struggling to defend the country, he said.

“The enemy has not shut down,” Pfluger added. “Our enemies around the world want us to be divided.”

Vance to meet with Senate Republicans

Vice President JD Vance is set to meet with Senate Republicans Tuesday during their weekly luncheon.

He is expected to talk about the government shutdown while also urging GOP lawmakers to vote against measures Congress will likely take up this week challenging Trump’s tariff measures.

Trump remains overseas in Japan amid shutdown

As the shutdown continues, President Trump remains overseas in Asia, arriving in Japan on Tuesday to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who last week became the country’s first female prime minister.

Trump’s is expected to return to the United States late Thursday.

Trump, asked on Air Force One whether there’s a way to pay air traffic controllers amid the shutdown, said, “Yes there is. But the Democrats should do a simple extension. The Democrats are holding it up.”

Democrats have slammed Trump’s absence and demanded Republicans come to the negotiating table while the president is away.

“Americans deserve a government that works as hard as they do,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said in a statement. “Not a leader that flies away from responsibility at the time they need one most.”

Largest federal workers union backs Republican bill to end shutdown

The nation’s largest union of federal employees on Monday called on lawmakers to end the government shutdown by passing a “clean” continuing resolution backed by Republicans that doesn’t include an extension of health care subsidies demanded by Democrats.

The statement from the American Federation of Government Employees puts pressure on Democrats to join in approving a bill to fund the government that lacks health care policy changes the party wants.

“It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in the statement. “No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”

Republicans immediately trumpeted the AFGE announcement as they push Democrats to abandon efforts to include an extension of Affordable Care Act health insurance premium subsidies in government funding legislation.

Democrats keep digging in on health care

Health care policy remains the dividing line for Democrats on Day 28 of the federal government shutdown.

Senate Democrats have 12 times blocked a Republican-backed continuing resolution to fund the government at existing spending levels. Democrats argue legislation to reopen the government should also extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse Republicans’ Medicaid cuts passed over the summer.

Republicans have refused to entertain negotiations on health care policy, arguing the ACA subsidies should be debated by Congress after the shutdown is over.

Democrats have circled Nov. 1 as a key date in their push. That’s when open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, begins and millions of Americans will start shopping for their 2026 health coverage plans.

If the subsidies are not extended by November, healthcare.gov consumers could experience sticker shock when they start searching for health care plans. Premiums are expected to double for millions of Americans if the subsidies are not renewed, according to the research organization KFF.