Hawley and Welch’s Keep SNAP Funded Act would protect millions of Americans from losing SNAP during shutdown 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) tonight cosponsored Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) Keep SNAP Funded Act, which would ensure nutrition assistance will continue despite the ongoing government shutdown.  

“I’m working across the aisle because a lapse in federal nutrition assistance would hurt more than 41 million Americans—from Vermont to Missouri, and beyond,” said Senator Welch. “The Keep SNAP Funded Act is a commonsense, bipartisan bill. I urge Senate leadership to bring this bill to the floor, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it. If the Trump Administration refuses to use the money it has to fund the program during this shutdown, Congress must step in.” 

More than 63,000 Vermonters rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), called 3SquaresVT. 

Senator Welch is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. 

Last week, Senator Welch joined 45 Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to release the billions of dollars at its disposal to ensure Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits continue in November. The Trump Administration refused to release the funding, and benefits will lapse in early November without congressional action. 

Read the Keep SNAP Funded Act here. 

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