Top House Democrats charged Tuesday that President Trump’s decision to withhold food aid funding during the shutdown is not only callous, but also illegal.

The Democrats are pointing to a rolling contingency fund for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), saying Congress created that multibillion dollar pool for emergency situations like the current budget impasse. If the Trump administration refuses to spend the money, they say, it would violate the federal law designed to ensure that appropriated funds go where Congress intended.

"The contingency funding that we set aside for SNAP is not optional spending. It is required by the law,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters in the Capitol.

“We appropriated that

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