Ohio Republicans want Dems to choose between food and health care

As nearly 1.5 million low-income Ohioans face the loss of food assistance in the coming days, two statewide Republicans appear to be posing a choice to congressional Democrats: Pick between that and health care subsidies received by 514,000 low and middle-income residents, because they won’t go along with both.

A partial government shutdown is almost a month old. 

Congressional Democrats have refused to sign on to a funding bill if Republicans don’t agree to extend subsidies to buy health insurance on marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.

In the absence of the subsidies — which are scheduled to expire Jan. 1 — health care costs will more than double for 24 million Americans, the health-analysis nonprofit KFF reports. 

Congressional Republicans this summer passed President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

It provides about $1 trillion in tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans over 10 years, while it cuts nearly the same amount from Medicaid.

It also cuts $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, the deepest cuts in the program’s history.

While the Trump bill extended 2017 tax cuts favoring the wealthy, congressional Republicans so far have refused to extend the ACA subsidies, which started in 2021. 

As the shutdown resulting from the impasse has gone on, millions of federal employees haven’t been paid, with millions of military personnel potentially joining them on Dec. 1. 

The cuts to food assistance, or SNAP, under the Trump law were already slated to begin phasing in on Nov. 1. But with the shutdown, funding for the program threatens to stop altogether.

Last summer, when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed, operators of Ohio’s food banks said they were already overstretched because high food costs increased the number of hungry people, while also making supplies more expensive.

That was before they faced complete defunding of SNAP, however temporary — and before some of those unpaid federal workers began to depend on their services.

“While we stand ready to assist those affected, our resources are already stretched thin, with an average of 1.4 million Ohioans visiting our food pantries each month, and a prolonged shutdown will add strain on our network,” the Ohio Association of Food Banks said in a written statement.

“We are counting on our donors, supporters and communities to step up in any way they can as our network continues its response. This situation underscores the vital role of public-private partnerships in supporting working families.”

Think tank Policy Matters Ohio said that Congress doesn’t need to pass a bill to extend food benefits; Trump has the power to do that unilaterally.

“Past practice and guidance from the Government Accountability Office are crystal clear that the SNAP contingency reserve is available to cover regular SNAP benefits,” Executive Director Hannah Halbert said earlier this week in a written statement.

“This administration’s choice to deviate from shutdown funding norms suggests their willingness to allow hunger to take a back seat to partisan politics.”

She called on Ohio U.S. Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, both Republicans, to urge Trump to extend the reserve funds to hungry Ohioans.

Husted’s office was asked whether he had asked the Trump administration to look for ways the government can keep SNAP funded. It didn’t respond.

A spokeswoman for Moreno pointed to a bill he had cosponsored. Introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., it would give the secretary of agriculture the power to appropriate money for SNAP — a power that Policy Matters and other organizations contend the secretary and the president already have. 

The bill makes no mention of the expiring health care subsidies.

Asked if Moreno believed that Senate Democrats should allow those to expire in order to save food assistance, the spokeswoman didn’t respond.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Tuesday led 18 Republican attorneys general in a letter calling on Democrats to end the crisis over SNAP.

Addressed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., it urged him to lead his caucus in agreeing to a “clean” funding bill.

To do that, Democrats would have to abandon their demand for extended health subsidies.

“This does not need to happen,” Yost’s letter said of the loss of SNAP funding. “Congress can stop the threat right now by passing a clean continuing resolution that keeps essential services funded and protects those who rely on them. You have the power to prevent a crisis that is entirely avoidable.”

Yost’s office was asked why the Republican A.G.s didn’t also write to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., given that he has more power than Schumer.

It was also asked whether Yost was, in effect, pushing for the expiration of the health subsidies.

It didn’t respond.

As the loss of food assistance looms for a million-and-a-half Ohioans, groups that have been leading protests against Trump called on people to help.

The No Kings Alliance, which led huge protests across the country Oct. 18, is urging people to give to food banks, support local shelters and organize give-back drives.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal. View the original article.