U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) has signed onto a bill that would keep benefits from both Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) funded as the government shutdown continues.
Very similar to a bill sponsored by his Republican counterpart, U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), the Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act would expressly direct the USDA to use available funds to keep these programs running.
Collins’ bill, on the other hand, would only apply to SNAP benefits.
In both cases, distribution of benefits would be retroactive to the start of the government shutdown.
Nearly 170,000 Mainers receive SNAP benefits, with several counties having up to one-in-five residents benefitting from the program. WIC benefits are estimated to be received by around 18,000 Maine people.
As it currently stands, distribution of benefits for both of these programs is on hold while the government is closed.
[RELATED: SNAP Funding for November Halted Amid Federal Government Shutdown]
“Maine families, children, veterans and seniors shouldn’t have to worry about losing access to food assistance because of political tactics,” said Sen. King said in a statement Thursday.
“No one in this country should ever have to choose between paying the electric bill and putting dinner on the table,” he continued. “The Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act is about decency and plain common sense, and it keeps faith with the Maine people who count on us most.”
“In all our history, a shutdown has never meant Americans go hungry — and it shouldn’t start now,” King said.
Click Here to Read Sen. King’s Full Statement
The ongoing shutdown is on track to become the longest in United States history, just one day away from surpassing the previous record set in January 2019.
Also being impacted by the continuation of the government shutdown is Maine’s emergency heating assistance program.
As part of the Low-Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP), ECIP is designed to provide emergency aid to Mainers facing an “imminent heating crisis.”
Eligible recipients of regular LIHEAP benefits typically qualify to receive up to $500 in emergency assistance. It is estimated that about 7,000 households take advantage of this help every year.
[RELATED: Maine’s Emergency Heating Assistance Program On Hold As Government Shutdown Continues]
Rep. Jared Golden (D) of Maine’s Second Congressional District has criticized his fellow Democrats for keeping the government shutdown, arguing that it is wrong to shutdown the government over what he refers to as a “normal policy debate.”
In doing so, he pushed back on the narrative that reopening the government is necessarily contingent upon the left and right reaching an agreement over extending an enhanced health insurance tax credit.
The expanded credit in question, first created in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), gives many Americans access to free or discounted monthly premiums health insurance premiums through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace.
Without intervention from Congress, this tax credit is set to expire at the end of this year. Should this happen, only the more limited version of the tax credit originally included in the ACA will remain in effect going forward.
Despite expressing support for extending the credits, Rep. Golden explains that he does not believe this policy debate should be intertwined with the current government shutdown.
This position differs greatly from that which has been espoused by his counterpart in Maine’s First Congressional District, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D).
In a statement shared in early October, Rep. Pingree framed the shutdown, fundamentally, as a fight over the extension of the enhanced ACA tax credit, placing blame squarely on Republican lawmakers.
“[Democrats’] goal is to protect everyone’s health care during this fight, to restore the cuts related to health care, and to make sure that Republicans don’t break their promises going into the future,” she said at the time.
Over the past several weeks, most Democrats have repeatedly rejected a Republican-led continuing resolution passed by the House that would allow the government to reopen. They have voted down more than 13 such efforts, which require a two-thirds majority to succeed.
King is one of only a small handful of non-GOP lawmakers to have crossed the aisle and voted in support of a plan to reopen the government.
