When SNAP benefits run out on Nov. 1, 42 million Americans are going to struggle to put food on the table — and Democrats allege the Trump administration has specifically designed that outcome by "weaponizing hunger."

Why it matters: Democrats see the looming aid shortage as a Republican disaster designed to push them to the shutdown negotiating table, and are making the freeze central to their reopening messaging.

What they're saying: "Trump is weaponizing hunger," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a Wednesday news conference. • "He's turning millions of children and seniors and veterans into political pawns," he said. • "All of these people who will lose their SNAP benefits, not because the money's gone, not because it's not permitted, because Donald Trump order

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