- cross-posted to:
- lefty_news@ibbit.at
- cross-posted to:
- lefty_news@ibbit.at
cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/106713
Sarah, a 44-year-old single mother in Maryland, was down to the last $20 on her EBT card as of Monday, wondering how she would feed herself and her two preteen boys as the government shutdown dragged on. She’d been out of work since May, after the Trump administration made sweeping cuts to federal contracts and eliminated her job in public health.
She had been rationing her Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits for over a month, unsure of when, if ever, the deposit would hit her account again. “It’s been awful,” said Sarah, who asked to be identified by her first name only because she fears speaking out could hurt her job search. But the Maryland mom said she was willing to sacrifice if it meant millions of Americans could afford their health insurance.
“The pitch they made, it made sense,” Sarah told The Intercept. “Everyone knew it was going to be painful, but it was important … and they just wasted it all.”
On Sunday, a group of eight Democratic senators, including Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., cut a deal with Republican leadership to end the government shutdown. They did it without forcing Republicans to agree to any of the major concessions Democrats said they were fighting to secure, which included a reversal of Medicaid cuts and an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. The deal is slated for a vote in the House on Wednesday evening, and it looks likely to pass.
[
Related
Key Senate Dem Says Party Caved on Shutdown to Make a Symbolic Point About the GOP](https://theintercept.com/2025/11/10/democrats-republicans-government-shutdown-aca-deal/)
While Senate Republican leadership agreed to hold a vote on the subsidies, the legislation is more than likely dead in the water, especially since Democrats forfeited their main piece of leverage. As a result, tens of millions of Americans are projected to see their premiums skyrocket, and an estimated 7.8 million low-income Americans will outright lose their insurance through Medicaid.
The Intercept spoke with four SNAP recipients who said they’re furious that Democrats squandered the sacrifice they made for the last month to ensure access to health care for millions of Americans — just as voters rewarded the party for finally fighting back against Republicans with major electoral victories last week.
“We sacrificed and we would continue to sacrifice because we understood what the stakes were. People’s health care was at stake,” said Delight Worthyn, 67, a SNAP recipient with lupus living in New Haven, Connecticut. “And that they would cave for nothing after we have all gone through. … I only feel betrayed.”
Though the Supreme Court has paused a federal judge’s order that the Trump administration pay full SNAP benefits for the month of November, some recipients have started receiving full or partial benefits. The SNAP funding available varies by state.
“Don’t talk about me and my food insecurity to justify kicking people like me off of my health care.”
Sasha Slansky, 33, a full-time master’s student at Queens College at the City University of New York who works a series of odd jobs to pay her bills, said it’s “insulting” for Democrats to use SNAP recipients as a justification for caving to Republicans and President Donald Trump**.** In his floor speech, Durbin invoked SNAP recipients as one of the reasons he was agreeing to Republicans’ shutdown deal.
“Don’t talk about me and my food insecurity to justify kicking people like me off of my health care,” said Slansky, noting that Democrats seem not to have taken into account the overlap between SNAP recipients and people who receive Medicaid and their insurance through the Affordable Care Act. “It’s insane, and it’s insulting, and it’s also just so wildly out of touch.”
Nearly 30 million of the 38.3 million people who received SNAP in 2022 were enrolled in Medicaid. The number of SNAP recipients has since risen to 42 million people, as of this year.
“I’m also on Medicaid,” Slansky said. “And as Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani and many, many Democrats have made clear, this has the potential to kick [millions] of Americans off of Medicaid, which likely includes me.”
Natalie, a delivery driver living in Lynnwood, Washington, said she managed to spend only half of her SNAP benefits for the month, stretching meals that would normally last her two days to three or four. She received her benefits for the first time since October on Tuesday, but she said it doesn’t erase the hardship of the last month.
Though the Supreme Court has paused a federal judge’s order that the Trump administration pay full SNAP benefits for the month of November, some recipients have started receiving full or partial benefits. The SNAP funding available varies by state.
“It felt like we were making a small sacrifice, skipping [meals], because we felt like we were doing something to help save people, and that we were doing something good for the country, and to have our only leverage just handed over,” said Natalie, who asked to be identified by her first name because she’s transgender and wanted to avoid transphobic harassment. “It feels like it wasn’t for anything.”
[
Related
The President Is Perfectly Fine If You Starve](https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/government-shutdown-snap-trump-hunger/)
Natalie said she wishes that Democrats had built off of their electoral victories in New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and California earlier this month to pressure Republicans, instead of immediately disarming when they had the upper hand.
“The MAGA Republicans were on the ropes. They were getting the blame. Why didn’t they keep using that and pushing the narrative, the truth, on social media and traditional news that Republicans are doing this to people?” said Natalie. “That was a really strong message, and it was one that people were willing to sacrifice for.”
The post SNAP Recipients Crushed by Democrats Caving on Shutdown: “They Just Wasted It All” appeared first on The Intercept.
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These assholes literally made sure that this shutdown got everyone the worst of all worlds
Government was shut down
Longest shutdown ever is now solved by Trump, he’ll claim
Government employees went without payment (may still not even get it now)
People went without food
Democrats budged
Trump won
It’s literally everything wrong. They had one job, keep steadfast, don’t bend the kn… Never mind, Democrats are again the good little pussies that they’ve always been.
Your country is sooooo fucked.
Friendly reminder to all Americans that while a year and some weeks ago was a really bad time to challenge the Democratic party establishment (because in the case of Harris vs Trump, Harris would’ve been preferable, but that went to shit anyway), now is an excellent time to challenge the Democratic party. Vote 3rd party in local elections and even midterms, primary every god damn old guard Dem you can find, and make sure that the entire party knows how disappointed their constituents are and why.
Maybe it’ll work, or maybe democracy is too far gone in the US. But in the years between presidential elections is the only really good time to challenge the party.
Either way the world is watching because for a bunch of shitty reasons the entire world is dependent on the US in a lot of ways.
They are undoing New Deal. It’s all part of the plan.
The dems are basically hatori hanzo of self inflicted wounds
Hattori Hanzō was a samurai of the Sengoku era. He served the Tokugawa clan as a general and is credited with saving the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu, later helping him to become the ruler of united Japan. Hanzō was known as an expert tactician and a master of sword fighting
Yes, that Hattori. He was named after an elf from Witcher 3. And the sword guy from Kill Bill.
The only thing I can figure is that they weren’t making any headway on Obamacare, and people were going to starve soon, and the Epstein thing was stalled during the shutdown.
So they calculated that while they’ll lose health care, people will eat, and they will go after both health care and Epstein for the Midterms.
So some Dems voted to end the shutdown, and some MAGAs voted to release the Epstein Files. It was a bipartisan solution for a change.
But it sucks. They should have held out, and beaten the MAGAs with ALL of it.
It sucks, but it was probably the only real move, and everyone knew it was going to happen. Maybe enough people saw their EBT card do something to ask a question.
Realistically, the Epstein files are less important. They may identify some prominent people as sexual predators but it probably won’t surprise anyone, change any minds, or affect people’s quality of life. While we dhould keep up the pressure, this is not worth shutting down the government for.
ACA, and now SNAP, directly affects the lives and health of our most vulnerable. This is a line in the sand worth drawing. This is worth shutting down the government. This is worth indefinitely shutting it down
Even worse if this is just more games. Making everyone suffer for a year, clearly at the hands of MAGAts, in the hope of cementing votes next year.
I was all for leaving it shut down until the Midterms, and having the entire Democratic campaign for 2026 be a giant food and health care drive for hungry and suffering Americans. Let them know that it’s MAGAs taking it away, but Dems are trying to help as much as possible, until the MAGAs give up, or lose in the election. It puts the Dems in contact with the people who need their help the most. Imagine if the campaign could tell everybody who wasn’t getting food and health care that it will immediately start back up if the Dems win, with repayments? All you have to do is make sure everyone who comes to the food bank, or the free health screenings, gets registered to vote, and knows where to go. Then call those people before election day, and offer to drive them to the polls.
A LOT of those people are going to be MAGAs, and with MAGA starving their family, and Dems willing to feed and care for them, they may start to realize that the Dems aren’t the slobbering hyenas that the Conservative Propaganda Machine makes them out to be.
Fetterman, Schumer, fucking Tim Kaine. Treasonous snakes. I hope they all rot in hell for selling out. The can is being kicked down the road and republicans will be ready next time.
Tim Caine, if I recall correctly, was the dipshit who Elizabeth Warren ripped a new asshole with her line in a debate:
“I don’t know why anybody would go to all the trouble to run for president just to talk about all the things we can’t get and can’t do.”
Reminder that Kane is who was going to be VP in 2016. So he would have been the same as VP/President if Clinton won and he got elected after.
Edit for my current devoted fan:
spoiler
Why are you downvoing me in posts and theads you’re not even part of? Man you really are a sealion troll. No wonder you had to make your own instance, no one wants your ass.
Just imagine, President Kane!
Still better than Trump.
Suplex the Republicans! (I never got into wrestling, sadly.)
Me either, the name just jogged my memory.
They were all retiring or not going to be seeking their positions next year so they all had no accountability going forward. Shows how much they cared about the people.
The party trots out a few people to performatively fall on the sword, ones that it doesn’t even impact ultimately, and then they get to pretend that people “broke ranks” when the capitulation comes from the top down.
I hope they all rot in hell for selling out.
They’ll be fetted at dinner parties hosted by the Responsible Moderates For A Wonderful Future PAC and offered board seats on shell companies that handle $40B in tax evaded funded when they retire.
That’s close. But still not what I had in mind.
More motive to bust out the guillotines? When the hungry can no longer go to buy food, the rich become the food.
Trump steaks.
You could not pay me to even consider that. Feed his corpse to the pigs and set those pigs free.
Damn for a moment I thought you were about to say “Feed his corpse to the pigs and set those pigs on fire!”
Which almost seemed reasonable given the circumstances and necessity of a thorough disposal.
I know fascist flesh is vegan but still, that’s nasty don’t eat that you don’t know whats in it
Marinated in spray tan.
Brain worms
Maybe this is actually good. If both parties keep behaving in the worst way possible for the population, maybe the US can finally rid itself from the two party system that keeps destroying the country.
Who am I kidding though, most people will keep voting for their party even when their house is literally set on fire by their representative. It will be something like 45/45 at best
I don’t expect so.
The Democrats are unlikely to enact meaningful change, sure, but if they consistently started winning it would create a political environment more conducive to change in the future. The republicans being unable to win would start shifting things in the other direction and it’s delusional to think otherwise.
On the other hand, if both parties piss everyone off then the needle doesn’t move as the parties lose support in equal measure. This seems to be where things currently sit.
See, the Dems don’t want things to change just as much as the Republicans. They are all capitalists.
On the other hand, if both parties piss everyone off then the needle doesn’t move as the parties lose support in equal measure.
Isnt this exactly what I said?
That was your starting point, yes, but I disagree with your conclusion. Both parties pissing everyone off just deepens the current mire. At best you can argue from an accelerationist standpoint that the faster we make things worse the sooner people rebel against it, but I’m not enough of a pessimist to believe that’s the best option.
The dems attracting consistent support would begin the lamentably slow process of digging out of the current situation. It should’ve started 20 or more years ago, but now is still better than never.
Im not sure thats a better option. Dems ruled often enough and it never changed much. They are capitalists just as much, just less racist and narcissistic.
Sure, short term its the best option to prevent shitstains like Trump, but on the long run the Dems will fuck the population just as badly.
The dems attracting consistent support would begin the lamentably slow process of digging out of the current situation. It should’ve started 20 or more years ago, but now is still better than never.
And we have to support them no matter what they do until they think about it in a decade or two and decide not to,
maybe the US can finally rid itself from the two party system that keeps destroying the country.
How will that happen, if people simply become increasingly resigned and disillusioned?
They dont necessarily have to become resigned, they could vote for a third party instead. Or just eat the rich.
most people will keep voting for their party even when their house is literally set on fire by their representative.
They’ll vote and they’ll cheer, because they were told the house needed to be set on fire. And they’ll believe this because every single news organization in the country - from local to national - is part of a holding company owned by Arson Inc.
At some point you have to look past politics as a collection of “stupid” individuals and see a machine that exists to manufacture consent.
The two party system is baked into the system, without reform, it will persist through all challenges.
The two party system is baked into the system
Two parties is a national phenomena. For most states, it’s a single dominant party and a rump opposition.
You’re bad at math
How so? Is the two party system engraved into your brain to the level that votes for two parties have to sum up to 100?
You don’t understand the spoiler effect.
Luckily gerrymandering has split a lot of the country into districts that are safe for one party or the other, so a lot can be done in those without just flipping from Democrats to Republicans or vice versa.
Which has nothing to do with math or my comment. Do you even have a point?
GOP: “Let’s see how much money we can save by starving the most vulnerable amongst us”
Thanks, Daddy Trump!
~ people who think it isn’t them (it’s them)
“Have we tried ‘Kill all the poor’?”
GOP - fascist authoritarian party
DNC - Controlled opposition party
The DNC must get rid of all their corporate stooges and their stooges like AIPAC Shakur before it can be effective and win elections.
The DNC is stooges, people like the chairman Ken are all about keeping the billionaires in charge.
Even here in the grim UK I don’t have to choose between eating and healing, both ( well 5 of 6 parties) have the NHS and social security at their hearts, reform are nazi cunts btw… anyway the dems are pretty right wing by our standards, AOC and Bernie are decent but the rest are bought.
All with shit eating grins on their faces. Useless party.
Much like the orange bell-end handling COVID - all they had to do was nothing and they couldn’t even do that.
Hopefully they all get the traitor treatment. Ideally tonight. Only one way to deal with traitors.
Republicans are just ejecting social programs out the airlock into the void of space… Hey lets get really fucking angry at the democrats about it. Good one.
Democrats just gave up without anything in return for the pain people have endured with our government shut down for 40 days. These fucks need to not be there pretending to representing us anymore.
The anger comes because people expected the Democrats to try to stop them. Literally the past 9 years has been nothing but the Democrats saying that everyone has to vote for them because they will stop the Republicans. Like, that’s the whole platform, “we are less bad than the Republicans”.
I actually see a silver lining here.
They didn’t just waste everyone’s time. They got Thune to agree to a special vote on ACA in December before the credits expire.
This actually puts the Republicans in the dems’ pockets. Now, Republicans can either say, flat out, that they don’t want Americans to have Healthcare. Or they can agree to whatever bill or CR the Democrats put forth since they won’t be able to hide behind a shutdown or additional measures on an omnibus bill.
Now, Republicans can either say, flat out, that they don’t want Americans to have Healthcare.
God almighty. The only thing more annoying than having to listen to all my ya’ll qaeda acquaintances is having to listen to fools who still don’t understand that said ya’ll qaeda do not care about ANYTHING that would resemble logic in politics. They live in a different reality and, no, even this starvation does not touch them in the brain pan.
Thune could just ignore anything about a “special vote.” What are the democrats going to do about it? cue schoolyard bully clip Republicans in the house or senate could literally vote away healthcare with a giant flashing neon sign at the top of the bill that said ‘americans should die!’ and faux news will tell them that the republicans have figured out how the evil democrats were stealing money from america and it’s now been fixed, and they will eat it up and spew it out ad nauseam. You’re not playing politics in america, you’re playing Who’s Line Is It Anyway?: Faux News edition.
None of that will matter. The politicians in this country can do or say whatever the hell they want as long as they don’t threaten the capital class. The media will just lie or obfuscate to cover for them. This is both sides I’m talking about.
Here is the plain truth:
#REPUBLICANS DO NOT GIVE A FUCK
They made that very clear years ago. Remember “repeal and replace, we pinky promise we’ll start writing the replacement as soon as we repeal”? Or even just now when they removed the funding from the bill?
The vote is going to be “lol no” and the Republicans are going to be laughing like Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown.
Anyone who needed to see that Republicans are the cause of both these crises could see that more clearly the longer the shutdown went on. Clarity was in no way improved by giving up with effectively no concessions.
That’s why the Dems caved. The instant that Republicans lose mass support, the Dems have to actually do something, which they don’t want to do, like at all.
Republicans in December:
Even if the Senate Republicans vote for the bill, the house Republicans can just choose not to have a vote because the speaker chooses which bills are voted on.
