Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling plan includes cutting food assistance (SNAP benefits) for millions of needy Americans, but Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said that it is not going to happen.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s new debt limit negotiating proposal set to be unveiled Monday morning will include broad moves to restrict food assistance for millions of low-income Americans. His GOP colleagues in the Senate aren’t optimistic any of those measures will survive.
McCarthy’s initial list calls for expanding the age bracket for people who must meet work requirements in order to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Food Assistance Program or SNAP, while closing what Republicans say are “loopholes” in existing restrictions, according to two people who were granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
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Sen. Fetterman will chair a subcommittee hearing in the Senate on Wednesday, and he responded in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA with just two sentences, “Cut SNAP for families and kids while pushing tax cuts for billionaires? Not on my watch.”
It isn’t just Democrats who are opposed to McCarthy’s plan. Senate Republicans also have no interest in cutting food assistance to low-income people as part of a debt ceiling package.
Chuck Schumer and the White House have both said that they will not be negotiating budget cuts as part of the debt ceiling. Kevin McCarthy currently claims that he has 218 votes to pass his debt ceiling bill, but there is a great deal of skepticism about the Speaker’s claim.
Senate Democrats have made it clear that McCarthy’s plan to cut SNAP is just like his future as Speaker of the House. It’s dead on arrival.