{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://schmidt.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-derek-schmidt-continue-food-assistance-despite-government-shutdown", "Rep. Derek Schmidt: Continue food assistance despite government shutdown", "2025-10-28", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "House", "KS", "Derek Schmidt", "S001228", "schmidt.house.gov", "schmidt", "https://schmidt.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 (October 28, 2025) \u2013 Congressman Derek Schmidt (KS-02) today announced he will cosponsor legislation to maintain food assistance for Kansans in need if the federal government shutdown continues.\n\n\u201cThis shutdown has been unnecessary from the beginning and hurts many Kansans,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cIt should not have happened, it has made reaching bipartisan agreement on many important funding priorities for the coming year harder not easier, and it needs to end. In my view, the right thing to do is to reopen the entire government and resume negotiations on full-year funding bills, but if a minority of U.S. Senators keeps refusing that approach then reopening critical parts of the government like food assistance is better than nothing at all.\u201d\n\nFunding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance program is expected to run out after November 1 if the government remains shut. The bill Schmidt will cosponsor, H.R. 5822, would continue SNAP funding for Kansans in need.\n\nMore than a month ago, the House of Representatives voted to temporarily continue funding all government operations while bipartisan negotiations for full-year funding priorities continue. A bipartisan majority of U.S. Senators agrees with keeping the government open during negotiations, but a minority of senators has repeatedly refused and under Senate rules that minority is able to block funding bills.\n\nSchmidt has voted in favor of every government-funding bill that has come to the House floor this year. On September 19, he voted for the clean, short-term continuing resolution to maintain government operations for seven more weeks while bipartisan negotiations on annual funding bills continue. He also voted for full-year funding for the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies including the Army Corps of Engineers when those funding bills came before the House of Representatives.\n\nSince the shutdown began, Schmidt has cosponsored several targeted bills intended to resume funding for specific federal services. In addition to the SNAP funding bill he cosponsored today, Schmidt has cosponsored standalone legislation to pay U.S. troops (H.R. 5401) and air traffic controllers (H.R. 5455).\n\nIn the absence of congressional action, Schmidt has favored actions by the Trump Administration to reallocate funding within the limits of the law to meet urgent priorities. Actions by the administration so far include paying U.S. troops and law enforcement officers, temporarily extending funding for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, and reopening Farm Service Agency offices.\n\nSchmidt also has cosponsored legislation to prevent future government shutdowns by continuing current funding levels whenever Congress allows annual appropriations to lapse (H.R. 5130 and H.R. 5552).\n\n\u201cThis chaotic shutdown approach is no way to run the government of a great country,\u201d Schmidt said.\n\nSchmidt has also cosponsored a Constitutional Amendment that would prohibit Members of Congress from receiving pay during a government shutdown (H.J.Res. 128).", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://schmidt.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-derek-schmidt-continue-food-assistance-despite-government-shutdown"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.7113771066069603, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}