Top House Democrats tore into the Trump administration on Friday night for withholding available food aid for millions of low-income Americans, saying the decision is both callous and illegal.

“It is a disgusting dereliction of duty that the Trump administration would knowingly rip food out of the mouths of 42 million children, seniors and veterans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is sitting on more than $5 billion in a contingency fund earmarked by Congress to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in emergencies. But the department says it won’t use those funds to cover benefits if the government shutdown extends beyond Oct. 31, according to multiple news reports.

In a memo, first reporte

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