WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) challenged Republicans Wednesday to put a bill backed by their party that fully funds food stamp programs up for a vote days before the current money pool is set to dry up.

The Keep SNAP Funded Act, introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) last week, already has ten GOP senators and Democrat Peter Welch of Vermont as co-sponsors — but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has resisted calls for smaller, separate spending bills after Schumer and his party voted 13 times to keep the government shut down from Oct. 1.

“Just weeks ago, Trump’s own US Department of Agriculture confirmed in writing that contingency funds — about $6 billion in emergency reserves — were ‘available to fund participant benefits,'” Schumer declared in a f

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