Floor Remarks by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Senate President Pro Tempore
“Government Shutdown and SNAP Benefits”
Monday, November 3, 2025
On Thursday, I sounded the alarm as the lapse in government funding endangered food assistance for 42 million Americans rapidly approached. That was November 1, the approach date.
I called on Senator Schumer to end the partisanship and vote for a clean extension of government funding.
Forty-five Democrats have opposed [a] clean extension of funding 13 times. Republicans have voted for it 13 times.
The Trump administration is putting a temporary band-aid on the program, tapping into emergency funds that will cover half a month of food stamps.
Meanwhile, I’ve got Iowans calling my office asking me where they can get food for their families.
This is a sad commentary on the politics in a nation of abundance.
I always say you are only nine meals away from a revolution.
Just think, if you’re a family, you’ve got children, three days without any food, what action you might take if you can’t properly feed them.
We’ve seen those sorts of revolutions in other countries.
So, let’s feed the American people with the bipartisan cooperation they deserve.
Bipartisan cooperation has always been a part of the food stamp program because over decades ago, two famous senators, Dole and McGovern, in a bipartisan fashion, came up with the idea, that: “Why should we have people that are nutrition-deficient in the United States, when the federal government has warehouses full of plenty of food?”
So, that’s the basis for the food stamp program. We should continue that basis of bipartisan cooperation.
I hope the Democrats will wake up and give families a permanent solution to the government programs they rely on.
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